Obama campaign releases one-minute ad featuring president direct-to-camera

The Obama campaign's newest ad is an unusual minute-long spot featuring the president speaking direct-to-camera about the choice in November's election. According to a campaign press release, it will air in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Over the next four months, you have a choice to make. Not just between two political parties, or even two people. It's a choice between two very different plans for our country. Governor Romney's plan would cut taxes for the folks at the very top. Roll back regulations on big banks. And he says that if we do, our economy will grow and everyone will benefit. But you know what? We tried that top down approach. It's what caused the mess in the first place. I believe the only way to create an economy built to last is to strengthen the middle class. Asking the wealthy to pay a little more so we can pay down our debt in a balanced way. So that we can afford to invest in education, manufacturing, and home-grown American energy for good middle class jobs. Sometimes politics can seem very small. But the choice you face, it couldn't be bigger.

The ad is a sign that despite the recent focus on defining'and attacking'Mitt Romney, the president and the campaign team still want the election to ultimately be a choice between two different economic philosophies for the future. Romney will want it to be a referendum on where things stand now, hoping to avoid a debate over what we should do about where things stand now. But that's not a debate he can avoid, and he's not giving any indication that he's prepared for it.