I started hearing about the AFSCME/MoveOn “Alex” ad on talk radio yesterday and this morning, followed a link from Jeff Jacoby‘s column in the Globe to the ad itself.
I expected a lot from “Alex”: conservative talk show host Jay Severin characterized it as a “killer”, worth five million votes, the most effective political ad since the famous “Daisy” that some believe sunk Goldwater’s bid for the Presidency.
Instead, I found the ad a turnoff, staged and insincere. The adult female character comes across as a whining, spoiled brat exuding entitlement, as if she were an adoptive parent rubbing it in at the expense of child’s birth mother: “You can’t have him”.
Besides, as mothers of tiny children will learn to their chagrin, kids have a way of leading their own lives and making their own decisions. Warriors are born to pacifists, and the reverse. It’s part of Nature’s way.