The RNC has come out with a new ad mocking the “Yes, we can” chant. It raises a number of questions about Obama’s “present” votes in the Illinois state senate, his spending plans, his votes to cut troop funding, his Snobgate comments, and his lack of national experience. What is not clear yet is the overall picture the Republicans are trying to paint. Are they going down the “experience” route? (Didn’t that bomb for Hillary Clinton?) Are they going to fight the culture war again?

For now, they have just thrown some issues against the wall. But it helps to have some consistent message. In 2004 Republicans painted John Kerry as an effete flip-flopper. In 2008, John McCain is being decried by Democrats as an out-of-touch George W. Bush clone. But what is the Obama image the Republicans want voters to conjure up? We’ll find out in the weeks ahead what that core message about Obama will be–or if there will be one at all.