Just after 8:30pm on a balmy Friday night outside of San Antonio, Texas, Obama looked out at a see of some 8,000 spectators. He was midway through his stump speech and then decided to sock it to Hillary Clinton for running a new campaign ad entitled “Children” - or as it’s being referred to in media and political circles, the “Red Phone” ad because of its similarity to a 1984 ad with the same name run by Walter Mondale in 1984.

“I want to take a moment to respond to an ad that Senator Clinton put up today,” Obama stated as the crowd began to jeer.  “We’ve seen these ads before. They’re usually the kind that play on people’s fears and try to scare up votes. But it won’t work. Because the question is not about who’s picking up the phone – the question is what kind of judgment will the person who answers the phone have?”

Senator Obama has made his consistent anti-war voice an example of his judgment in the realm of all things foreign policy - and once again, his weapon of choice to attack Senator Clinton’s foreign policy experience is her vote for the Iraq War Resolution in 2002.

“Senator Clinton may not be aware, but we already had a red phone moment. It was the decision to invade Iraq. And Senator Clinton picked up the phone and gave the wrong answer. And John McCain picked up the phone and gave the wrong answer. And George Bush picked up the
phone and gave the wrong answer,” he said, not so subtly linking her decisions with those made by Republicans McCain and Bush.

“I stood up and I said this war in Iraq would cost us billions of dollars and thousands of lives. I said it would distract us from the real threat we faced. That’s the judgment I made on the most important foreign policy decision of a generation and that’s the kind of judgment I’ll show when I pick up the phone at 3am in the morning!” he exclaimed to rousing applause.

He then wacked President Bush for good measure - always a crowd favorite at Democratic rallies. He promised he would use his judgment to provide, equip, and train troops and to “use them wisely and not deploy them because of some ideological bent that you were on, but because it is absolutely necessary to protect the United States of America – that’s the answer that I’ll give when somebody calls me on the phone at 3am in the morning!”

Obama ended his rant by saying he won’t scare up votes using the threat of terrorism. “I intend to make sure that we rally the country together, against our common enemies – that we’re distracted by politics when it comes to our national security. That’s the judgment that I intend provide when I’m president of the United States of America.”

Hillary Clinton’s new ad entitled, “Children” poses the question, “It’s 3am and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?” The ad is referring to the “red phone” in the White House - their point: Hillary Clinton has the experience to handle crises while Obama is still untested.

The Obama campaign responded to questions about the ad in a conference call this morning - Campaign Manager David Plouffe called the ad ineffective and said Hillary Clinton has already had her “red phone moment” when she supported the war in Iraq. “She, John McCain, and George Bush all gave the wrong answer,” Plouffe told reporters.

Obama himself weighed in at the top of his veterans town hall at a Houston American Legion Post this morning. “Since I am in the midst of an election, before we open this up for conversation, I do want to take a moment to respond to - the press is, I’m sure, curious - to an ad that Senator Clinon is apparently running today,” he began.

Watch his response here:

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Later in the day, the campaign released it’s counter ad - using much of the same effects as Clinton’s ad, including similar sound effects and video clips. Watch it here: