The Obama campaign media team has produced a 30-second advertisement for Senator Barack Obama, which will be shown across the nation on national cable television. The ad, titled “Tested”, is an attempt by the Obama campaign to seize on Mr. McCain’s mortgage proposal as a way to question his judgment on economic issues. Along with highlighting the critical point of the McCain plan - which it is meant to be a lifeline for homeowners before they slide into foreclosure – the ad also makes some valid points about the new liabilities taxpayers would face.  

The ad, which opens a foreclosed home with a ‘For Sale’ sign, has a clip of McCain’s announcement of his home mortgage plan at Tuesday’s debate. The narrator says the plan would “shift the burden from lenders to taxpayers”, and a graphic of a CNN Money.com article appears on the screen. The ad ends with images of a street sign on Wall Street, followed by a photograph of McCain with President Bush.

Once again, the Obama campaign has tried to tie McCain to the mess on Wall Street, this time by using his own words at Tuesday’s presidential debate. During the course of the ad, the narrator says: “In a time of crisis, our leaders’ judgment is tested. On Tuesday, an announcement. On Wednesday, the details. McCain would shift the burden from lenders to taxpayers guaranteeing a loss of taxpayer money. Who wins? The same lenders that caused the crisis in the first place. Putting bad actors ahead of taxpayers? We can’t afford more of the same.”

Though McCain’s economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, conceded that the plan would place a burden on taxpayers, he also opined that it is very likely the McCain plan would result in “a loss of taxpayer money,” as the message in the ad says. Holtz-Eakin also noted that stabilizing home values would speed economic recovery, saying that the effort is justified because of the magnitude of the banking crisis and the need to stabilize the housing market.

The spot does not mention the fact that legislation, including the $700 billion bailout bill that Congress and the president approved last week, paved the way for the plan that McCain proposed. Both McCain and Obama had voted in favor of the bill.