After more than a week of getting pounded by Sarah Palin supporters, Barack Obama's forces are hitting back in a new campaign ad, playing on John McCain's admission that he can't send an e-mail or even use a computer. Obama says these points -- and others -- are evidence that McCain is "out of touch."

(Via Lifehacker.)

The ad plays off McCain's own statement that he doesn't know how to use a computer. It starts with a gallery of images from the early '80s: a green-screen PC, a cell phone as big as your head, a disco ball. (Huh? A disco ball? That's so '70s -- as is the font that starts the commercial. But forget about that -- we're on a roll here.)

The nostalgic beginning is just a transition to the meat of the ad, which attacks McCain's economic policies, noting that McCain "favors $200 billion in tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class."

In fact, both candidates plan tax cuts. However, the McCain campaign wants to give most of those cuts to the wealthiest people in the country, while Obama wants to give the biggest tax cuts to the lowest income rungs, about 60% of the population. For people making about $66,000 to $111,000, Obama's plan is better by about $200 per year. Obama plans to raise taxes for the wealthiest Americans.

Being able to use a computer matters in the Oval Office. People who think that "technology is peripheral to the role of the Commander-in-Chief miss the point," notes Techdirt. "Computer literacy isn't about 'being in touch' with the 'common folk,' " it's about understanding the foundation of the knowledge economy. The next administration will need to correctly address important policies with technology at their root, and if the leader doesn't understand the fundamental potential and differences of digital technology, the results will be much more catastrophic than wasting time deleting spam."

Likewise, the fact that Palin is mushy on the fundamentals of science is appalling.

We face a world in which America is challenged in its technology and scientific leadership. This is actually good news -- the Cold War is over and we won. China, India, and other spots in Asia are embracing free markets, and Europe is thriving. It's no longer the 20th century, when Asia lived under oppressive dictatorships, grinding poverty, or both, and Europe was in a long-term post-World War II malaise. It's a better world today, and America deserves a lot of the credit. But the change in the world order means that America needs scientifically literate, technology-savvy people in charge of its government, not folks like John McCain, who's stuck in the 20th century, or Sarah Palin, who lives in the 19th.

Update, 9/12: McCain supporters say their candidate is Internet-savvy -- he just needs someone else to operate the keyboard because of an old Vietnam war injury.