Behold!  What may very well be the worst campaign ad of all time.

I saw this on the TV at the gym this morning and nearly fell off the elliptical machine.  Surely this can’t possibly be a PRO-Obama ad bragging about the massive tariffs he levied on Chinese goods.  They can’t possibly think the American people are this stupid, can they?

Well, apparently they can and do.  You see, those stupid Republicans who claim Obama never accomplished anything clearly don’t know what they’re talking about.  By raising tariffs, he accomplished the significant achievement of raising the price of consumer goods.  Those evil, no good Chinese had a nefarious scheme to sell us products for low prices.  Well China, that may fly when the Republicans are in charge, but Obama heroically stepped up and said “NOT ON MY WATCH!!”  Our fearless leader took the brave step of protecting us from those low-cost Chinese tires.

After all, he’s a man of the people.  He’s all about fairness.  And nothing says “fairness” like high tariffs.  You know, those things that enrich a tiny fraction of the population at the expense of the overwhelming majority of the population.  Tariffs that raise the price of tires (something nearly all Americans buy) so that those who work in the American tire industry (a fraction of Americans so small as to be statistically insignificant) could continue to charge unnecessarily high prices for American tires.  What a hero!  Mitt Romney would never allow such a thing!  Because he loves those evil Chinese!  He would just LET them ship their affordable goods over here so we could buy them for less money than American goods.

Sarcasm aside, this ad is incredible.  The fact that they think being pro-tariff is a winning message makes me weep for the sorry state of humanity.  Tariffs are a relic of 18th century mercantilism.  They are nothing more than transfers of wealth away from the consumers to the privileged and protected industry insiders and corporate fat-cats.  Free trade is not evil.  Low cost Chinese goods are not evil.  Government is evil.