It’s brutal because… well, let’s face it, that Romney tic was always the most cringe-worthy aspect of the campaign. Anything negative that Romney did, contrasted with that song, would be powerful.

It’s ridiculously offensive, however, because it baldly asserts that doing business with Mexico, China or Switzerland is un-American. Other idiocies like the Olympic-uniform controversy feed into the public perception that having the other countries make stuff is an abomination of the first degree. …

Brooks’ colleague Nate Silver might quibble a bit with the “politically working” point, but that’s a small quibble. Americans loooooooove mercantilism, so this kind of rhetoric makes tactical sense during a campaign. As stomach-churning as I find this kind of ad, I must reluctantly agree with Yglesias and Brooks that it doesn’t matter all that much for governing. Even this Washington Post story that talks about Obama’s “rethinking” of free trade doesn’t really deliver the goods on significant policy shifts. And it appears that even the Chinese government recognize campaign bluster for what it is.