Romney's 'Day One': Does his first ad set him apart from Obama?

Mitt Romney is using the first TV ad of his general election campaign against President Obama to tell swing-state voters in Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, and Virginia what a Romney presidency would be like on Day One. The commercial, which started airing Friday, says the likely Republican presidential nominee would approve the Keystone pipeline on his first day in office (see the video below), introduce tax cuts to "reward job creators, not punish them," and issue an order "to begin replacing ObamaCare with commonsense health care reform." Romney had promised a "positive ad" to contrast with the Obama campaign's "character assassination ad" attacking his record at Bain Capital. Did Romney score points with this general election debut?

Romney is off to a terrific start: "Campaigns are not won on attack ads alone," says Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. Romney knows that, so he has spelled out his vision and his priorities — "jobs, the economy, energy, and more jobs" — in a spot that is "upbeat, optimistic, and colorful." Still, Romney doesn't cut Obama any breaks, hitting him on Keystone, taxes and spending, and ObamaCare. This is just the kind of "smart, well-produced ad" every challenger should run.

"Video: What would Day 1 of a Romney presidency look like?"

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Mitt is making promises he can't keep: The Keystone oil sands pipeline is something a president can change with "the stroke of an executive order pen," says Mark Silva at Bloomberg. The rest of this stuff, however, will be impossible to deliver quickly, if at all, "with the divided Congress that the president [who's] inaugurated in January will inherit." And it's interesting to note what Romney's not promising: "Cutting the federal deficit."

"Romney's 'Day One:' 34 Words"

Romney will have to be more specific: Credit Romney for hitting "all the necessary talking points" on the conservative check list, says Daniel Stone at The Daily Beast. But he "fails the specificity test." Every politician, Obama included, wants to reward job creators to spur hiring. The debate in Washington is over how to pay for these tax cuts "with an exploding annual deficit and national debt." If Romney releases an ad with concrete ideas on that, he's got a winner.

"Starting on Day One, new ad lists everything Romney would accomplish"

Take a look at the Romney ad: