With Barack Obama airing his 30-minute informercial on competing networks this evening, John McCain decided to reach back into his summer strategy and poke Obama’s pretentiousness in his latest ad today. “TV Special” paints Obama as an empty suit with great PR, whose natural political instincts would bring disaster:

Behind the fancy speeches, grand promises and TV special, lies the truth: With crises at home and abroad, Barack Obama lacks the experience America needs. And it shows.

His response to our economic crisis is to spend and tax our economy deeper into recession. The fact is Barack Obama’s not ready yet.

The return of the “celebrity” theme could be effective, especially with those who scratch their heads at Obama’s decision to pre-empt 30 minutes of programming — on three networks (and a few other outlets as well).  Does Obama think that people would be too stupid to find it on just one?  Obama could make an argument for having his 30-minute infomercial on network television, I suppose, by reversing McCain’s argument here and saying he wants people to get to know him in greater detail.  The simulcast gives the ego-stroking game away.

This ad will probably only be effective for a day or two, but it’s still a good entry for Team McCain.

Update: He’s on three networks, not two (NBC, CBS, Fox), and a few ancillary outlets.  It’s worse than I originally thought.  Thank the Lord for HBO and TiVo.