The American Spectator

Barack Obama has launched his first general election ad, prominently featuring his white mother and grandparents, including his grandmother who he once described as a “typical white person” after publicly outing her as a racist during the Jeremiah Wright controversy. The ad boasts that his mother and grandparents taught him “values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up.” Even liberal blogger Matt Yglesias calls the ad “hilariously unsubtle.” Clearly, Obama is trying to convey to white working class voters who eluded him in the primaries that he loves America, and white people. The ad will air in 18 states, including many red states that Obama hopes to win: Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia.

Meanwhile, Matt Lewis notes several instances in which the ad exaggerates Obama’a accomplishments.