>>> governor romney 's plan would cut taxes for the folks at the very top, roll back regulations on big banks and he says that if we do, our economy will grow and everyone will benefit. but you know what? we tried that top-down approach. it's what caused the mess in the first place. i believe the only way to create an economy built to last is to strengthen the middle class . asking the wealthy to pay a little more so we can pay down our debt in a balanced way. so that we can afford to invest in education, manufacturing and home-grown american energy. for good middle class jobs. sometimes politics can seem very small but the choice you face, it couldn't be bigger.
>> that is a new obama campaign ad that will be airing in nine swing states . mark halperin , i believe this ad garnered, i would call it praise on the mark halperin website, which is to say you said it is really worth watching. and that it is, i don't know that you didn't say this, but i think a lot of us think of it as a line in the sand in terms of messaging from team obama . it's a big ad insofar as it talks about the stakes, the choices at hand, and fundamentally puts forward the president's vision and contrast that with mitt romney . do you think it's a successful ad?
>> it's a big investment. if they're really airing it in part of the regular rotation it's a 60-second spot which costs a lot of money to run in those states. i think it is a real ad. i don't think they're just putting it out to get publicity. it's not just the campaign's sense of the race. it is the president. that is his personal belief of why he should win, is the contrast on the policies. some interesting choices. first putting himself direct to camera. governor romney hasn't done that yet. it would be interesting to see if and when romney does do that. that's part of trying to leverage people liking the president and trusting him. it's also he makes a reference, he doesn't say it was bush's fault, president bush 's fault, but he does say we can't go back to the policies that got us in trouble in the first place. that is a somewhat controversial line, because a lot of independents are turned off by that. they don't want to hear it's someone else's fault but that is, again, the president's strong belief. and it is also, there's a range of things in there. energy, education, a range of issues that the president feels really strongly about and if the election could be fought on the terms he laid out in that ad he's confident he can win.
>> lynn sweet , it is also, you know, we have the surrogates sort of playing down and dirty on the bain stuff. the president is hovering slightly above them with a bigger message. your thoughts on the ad?
>> well, the president does in this moment we're in, he's doing the positive. other people do the negative. though when he says you're twisting my words, as he did in oakland last night, that is pretty strong language from the president. i mean, i think that counts as a direct hit if we're scoring it. there's no other way to do it. an ad like that needs to exist because the campaign this early on both sides is getting very much into negative territory. you don't want to turn off somebody who is a persuadable. you might not get them back.
>> it's a seminal ad, i think. mark made this point on the page. it's a comparative ad that is a comparative ad. normally we mean it's a negative ad. here the president is saying compare and contrast, here we are. there are a few things. one is that i think it's clear it's partly in response to the fact the president's personal approval ratings have gone down a little because he's been perceived as getting down in the mud too much but the two other things in there that are really deep in their research, when he talks about, you will hear this a lot over the next few months, when he talks about an economy built to last, that's a contrast to an economy built on sand. that's an economy to boom-bust. boom-bust in the minds of a lot of voters is what we've had for the last ten years. what mitt romney will take us back to. the other thing is the end, raising the stakes on the election, saying this is a big election and that's about raising the cost of switching. it's like saying, you know, you might not be totally comfortable with me, but take a look, forcing voters to look at the alternative and saying this is such a big election, you got to study the other guy. you can't let this just be about me. it's also got to be about him. in all these very subtle ways they're trying to make it's all about framing this, it's a choice.
>> but i think it is, one of the things i think is effective about the ad is obama is saying it is about him. the real strength of the ad is what mark is referring to, it's what the president believes. and what's the biggest i think mitt romney 's biggest, you know, problem is that no one really knows what he believes except he believes that everybody should have the right to get rich. like the truth is --
>> which actually president obama believes, too. he does. he's not against --
>> don't we all --
>> i'm for the right to get rich, too.
>> also pay lower taxes.
>> the truth is that you're trying to imagine the mitt romney ad where he's sitting in the same kind of thing, laying out his, like what he believes in, in the same tone, in the same kind of both critical and positive about like what's wrong with where we've been, what can i do to put the country on the right track. i think it's very well done. it's hard to imagine the mitt romney corollary.
>> there is also a bit of jiu-jitsu in the ad. romney is saying i'll get rid of obama care, get rid of regulation, have the keystone pipeline . this is the president saying here's all the things romney believes in, some associated with the ryan budget, some associated with bush policies that aren't popular. now the president is saying he's going to run against my record. i'm going to run against what his record would be if you elected him. that gives them exactly what they want as the title of the ad says, a choice rather than a referendum.
>> i think your point about it being the president straight to camera is a very powerful ad optically. it seems very straightforward both literally and in terms of the theology that is laid out there.
>> that is a new obama campaign ad that will be airing in nine swing states . mark halperin , i believe this ad garnered, i would call it praise on the mark halperin website, which is to say you said it is really worth watching. and that it is, i don't know that you didn't say this, but i think a lot of us think of it as a line in the sand in terms of messaging from team obama . it's a big ad insofar as it talks about the stakes, the choices at hand, and fundamentally puts forward the president's vision and contrast that with mitt romney . do you think it's a successful ad?
>> it's a big investment. if they're really airing it in part of the regular rotation it's a 60-second spot which costs a lot of money to run in those states. i think it is a real ad. i don't think they're just putting it out to get publicity. it's not just the campaign's sense of the race. it is the president. that is his personal belief of why he should win, is the contrast on the policies. some interesting choices. first putting himself direct to camera. governor romney hasn't done that yet. it would be interesting to see if and when romney does do that. that's part of trying to leverage people liking the president and trusting him. it's also he makes a reference, he doesn't say it was bush's fault, president bush 's fault, but he does say we can't go back to the policies that got us in trouble in the first place. that is a somewhat controversial line, because a lot of independents are turned off by that. they don't want to hear it's someone else's fault but that is, again, the president's strong belief. and it is also, there's a range of things in there. energy, education, a range of issues that the president feels really strongly about and if the election could be fought on the terms he laid out in that ad he's confident he can win.
>> lynn sweet , it is also, you know, we have the surrogates sort of playing down and dirty on the bain stuff. the president is hovering slightly above them with a bigger message. your thoughts on the ad?
>> well, the president does in this moment we're in, he's doing the positive. other people do the negative. though when he says you're twisting my words, as he did in oakland last night, that is pretty strong language from the president. i mean, i think that counts as a direct hit if we're scoring it. there's no other way to do it. an ad like that needs to exist because the campaign this early on both sides is getting very much into negative territory. you don't want to turn off somebody who is a persuadable. you might not get them back.
>> it's a seminal ad, i think. mark made this point on the page. it's a comparative ad that is a comparative ad. normally we mean it's a negative ad. here the president is saying compare and contrast, here we are. there are a few things. one is that i think it's clear it's partly in response to the fact the president's personal approval ratings have gone down a little because he's been perceived as getting down in the mud too much but the two other things in there that are really deep in their research, when he talks about, you will hear this a lot over the next few months, when he talks about an economy built to last, that's a contrast to an economy built on sand. that's an economy to boom-bust. boom-bust in the minds of a lot of voters is what we've had for the last ten years. what mitt romney will take us back to. the other thing is the end, raising the stakes on the election, saying this is a big election and that's about raising the cost of switching. it's like saying, you know, you might not be totally comfortable with me, but take a look, forcing voters to look at the alternative and saying this is such a big election, you got to study the other guy. you can't let this just be about me. it's also got to be about him. in all these very subtle ways they're trying to make it's all about framing this, it's a choice.
>> but i think it is, one of the things i think is effective about the ad is obama is saying it is about him. the real strength of the ad is what mark is referring to, it's what the president believes. and what's the biggest i think mitt romney 's biggest, you know, problem is that no one really knows what he believes except he believes that everybody should have the right to get rich. like the truth is --
>> which actually president obama believes, too. he does. he's not against --
>> don't we all --
>> i'm for the right to get rich, too.
>> also pay lower taxes.
>> the truth is that you're trying to imagine the mitt romney ad where he's sitting in the same kind of thing, laying out his, like what he believes in, in the same tone, in the same kind of both critical and positive about like what's wrong with where we've been, what can i do to put the country on the right track. i think it's very well done. it's hard to imagine the mitt romney corollary.
>> there is also a bit of jiu-jitsu in the ad. romney is saying i'll get rid of obama care, get rid of regulation, have the keystone pipeline . this is the president saying here's all the things romney believes in, some associated with the ryan budget, some associated with bush policies that aren't popular. now the president is saying he's going to run against my record. i'm going to run against what his record would be if you elected him. that gives them exactly what they want as the title of the ad says, a choice rather than a referendum.
>> i think your point about it being the president straight to camera is a very powerful ad optically. it seems very straightforward both literally and in terms of the theology that is laid out there.