Camp McCain likes Barack Obama’s global celebrity so much that they have launched a new ad juxtaposing footage of Obama’s massive Berlin rally last week with images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.  The ad calls him “the biggest celebrity in the world… but is he ready to lead?” From there, the narrator hits Obama on offshore drilling and energy taxes.
The tone of the reaction from the establishment media in today’s conference call apparently was skeptical to hostile, as the current Narrative is that Maverick is a Bad Man for Going Negative.
However, unlike the McCain ad blasting Obama over his failure to visit wounded US troops in Germany (which ran only a dozen times or so, but got big free media coverage), Team McCain claims this new ad will be cycled into the campaign’s buy on national cable and in swing states like Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, (northern) Virginia, and Wisconsin. So while Allahpundit admires the McCain tactic of using buzz to make up for money gap, Camp McCain clearly sees this one as having more potential. Josh Marshall, true to form, sees it as a “new tactic of associating Barack Obama with oversexed and/or promiscuous young white women,” as opposed to celebs behaving badly. Perhaps the ad should have included Nick Nolte, though he’s not as big as Spears or Hilton these days.
Previously, I have argued that positioning himself as a celebrity may be Obama’s most comfortable niche — even though some, like Michelle Malkin – will be turned off by it. However, in the ensuing discussion, I did comment that celebs who live by the tabloid can perish by the tabloid. I would suggest that Team McCain has realized this and is in a very Rovian fashion going after their opponent’s strength, hoping to make Obama’s celebrity status a liability in the way that John F. Kerry’s Vietnam-era activities were turned against him in 2004.
If I was advising Camp McCain, here is what I would parody as a follow-up (though they have learned you can’t be so close as to attract copyright lawyers).
The fact that being a celebrity is Sen. Obama’s biggest accomplishment is…
It is so disturbing that I can’t think of an anlogy that fits.
Hmmm, you seem to be in a sort of psychosexualpolitico analysis mode now, Karl: might it be that women over 40 don’t like Obama because they resent the attention the naive, under-thirty crowd is paying him?
TheGeezer,
That reaction might not be limited to women over 40. I think the reaction W40+ have is probably based on a whole host of factors.
This is really pretty brilliant, cause of how true it is. Baracky doesn’t really have an issue for McCain to talk about. Unless you count hope as an issue. There was that Iraq thing but Baracky sort of has that one all confuzzled now. So if Baracky and his 527 peoples want to cultivate the sad, empty People Magazine and the Hollywood B-lister crowd, and they’ve done a lot of that, then Baracky maybe should understand that maybe there’s a reason people who want to be president try to act for real presidential instead of like the it boy of summer. Baracky wasn’t even in any of the High School Musical thingers anyway, so it’s all sort of phony for him to be acting like it if you ask me.
O!’s hubris is growing by leaps and bounds. If he doesn’t eat himself, the press soon will. Yhe comparison to Brittany is quite appropriate, I think.
When O! first surfaced, I have to admit, I was intrigued by him. But that has slowly morphed into a sensation of bugs under my skin. He is not right in the head, and the only reason he is even somewhat viable, is that our J school graduates spank their monkeys any time they see him.
Look out for that monkey juice, O! The press are a bunch of rabid dogs, and usually, after they turn you into a legend, they then turn you into dog shit. It’s just sport for them.
And I can’t help but think that the silence from the Clintons means that they are sitting on an A-bomb, waiting for the convention to deploy it. They just went away uncharacteristically quietly for who they really are.
.. German responds ..
Just like 9-11 .. for a couple of hours we are “all Americans” then the other shoe drops.
Obama has ruined our relations with German. It’s all downhill from here.
Oh, I never would give women 40+ short shrift on anything, Karl, especially because greater life-knowledge and experience is tremendously attractive. But is there a facet of heterobama that repels sophisticated women?
What I’ve been saying for a while now is that Obama needs to fully embrace the principle.
He needs a blonde bimbo who’s already a member of the celebrity scene, with a trail of paparazzi. A few supermarket tabloid front pages (“Is Barack cheating on Michelle? The Star has pictures!”) would be worth more than all the paid political ads, combined, and if he got her pregnant and tried unsuccessfully to cover it up you might as well just swear him in and save the expense.
Regards,
Ric
happyfeet #4: Never, ever go away from here.
TheGeezer,
The Marin column distinguishes between the sophisticated, upscale women who were at the “Women for Obama” lunch, and women like Sarah. If O! loses the high-SES women, he’s toast.
And in general, I think one of the factors here is not heterobama, but metrobama.
And yes, feets (as usual) puts a finger on something in #4. The ad is cleverly illustrating that Obama is all sizzle, no steak. More like arugula.
hf, about that high school musical thing, have you had your hands on Baracky’s yearbooks? Cause I can for sure hear him in my head putting out a near Barry White sound and making it so cool while doing it.
Why does this feel so much like Vince Foster deja vu ?
Wow 26, that’s very young. Sad to hear.
#8: Ric,
I have no idea why BO distanced himself from Scarlett Johansson.
So successful and so young, and, amazingly, not turned into a cynical mess by it all.
If Obama loses the election will he be on the next season of Dancing with the Stars or Celebrity Rehab?
A Preview from the new MTV hit reality series, ChaO!tic:
Bald Obama Spears: … and we had sex… we had lot’s ‘o sex and stuff.. We had so much sex… pickup loads of just sex.. Ahhhmmm havin sex right now…
This is O/T, but it’s about women and I’ve been thinking about it.
The latest report about the murdered pregnant marine from a few weeks ago is that the suspect is the (married) father of her child. This is the second time this has happened on this base, but the story of a man killing his pregnant wife/girlfriend (or wife and new born) is not a rare one.
Now, women’s rights groups are forever telling us that welfare rules that favor marriage are bad because they cause women to stay with wife beaters. Also, that parental consent rules about abortion shouldn’t be allowed because they make a girl beholden to her rapist father.
Yet, we clearly have a phenomenon where men are killing women and fetuses for whom they do not want to be responsible. Wouldn’t this be an argument women’s rights groups could use to get rid of forced child support? If they were being consistent, that is.***
**I actually think the problem is that the other arguments are made, not that this one isn’t.
It is possible I’ve written this comment and made no sense at all.
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Sounds like a great attack angle, if they do it right. People are probably already drawing that conclusion, which is the best way to approach an issue. Find what they’ve considering or deep down suspect and help them finalize that idea or suspicion. Obama is popular, but arrogant and clearly unready for the job. The only possible reason he would win the Presidency is a gigantic form of the worst sort of affirmative action: hire the less qualified fellow because he’s a minority. That worked out well with Jayson Blair, eh?
oh, sorry.
Maybee, #20 is a placeholder for one of thor’s rants i should think. It’s not directed at you.
Obama defeated Hillary in part by being the classier of the two candidates.
He always takes the easy path.
Horse poo is classier than cow poo. Horse poo clings together in roundish nodules, where cow poo just splats into a sort of inverted puddle.
Regards,
Ric
Senator Obama won because he was a slightly less awful candidate. Senator Clinton did much better than she should have because of Operation Chaos. Neither one would have even made it past Iowa in a normal election year with a halfway decent alternative. The shrill harpy with a mansion full of baggage and skeletons versus the incredibly vapid, egotistical, and unqualified speechmaker who stumbles and gaffes constantly when not on a prepared message. The only reason Senator Obama has any shot at all is because Senator McCain is so despised by his own party.
If the Iraq was going well in February as it is now, I doubt O!’s classiness would have mattered.
If the Iraq war was going well in February as it is now, I doubt O!’s classiness would have mattered.
Damm!
#22: MayBee,
cranky-d has it exactly right in #23.
The only reason Senator Obama has any shot at all is because Senator McCain is so despised by his own party.
Sad, really. The thought of The Big O is bad enough but the alternative is…McCain.
I wonder what sycophants like Thor will do when Obama loses? Even if he wins he won’t live up to their overinflated worship of the man. What’s it like to go through life needing the Strong Leader and hero worship of celebrities?
Karl, that Dos Equis ad is wonderful! You’re so right that the McCain campaign should parody it.
We’ve pretty well established that this election is either for Obama or against Obama. The more the McCain folks puncture his balloon, the better.
As for 40+ women, we’ve lived long enough to see the Obama type before, and we pay attention to what his policies are, rather than just salivating over … whatever it is people are salivating over. As my Mom used to say, “Handsome is as handsome does,” and I don’t see handsome in Obama’s plans for my money and my country.
It is a game to him, CT, that is all. No biggie.
“… The only possible reason he would win the Presidency is a gigantic form of the worst sort of affirmative action..”
If he wins then we’re even steven on the whole reparations thing, right? I mean like once and for all…
What’s it like to go through life needing the Strong Leader and hero worship of celebrities?
This.
Klaatu Baracky Nikto!
Nice p-shop, urthshu.
Mikey: yeah. Those guys and witch burners and most of the people who, as mobs, did horrific things throughout history, by following someone strong and compelling who gave their life the semblance of meaning. Sure, they still feel empty inside, but they can transfer his glory onto themselves in some twisted emotional albedo. I matter! I am with him!
Christopher: Sure, they still feel empty inside, but they can transfer his glory onto themselves in some twisted emotional albedo. I matter! I am with him!
Exactly right.
I already mentioned this on the other thread, but I heartily recommend The True Believer by Eric Hoffer to anyone who wants insight into the minds of these people.
Hmmmmm….
I wonder if Michelle had something to do with it?
Joshua found a racial angle to this? Good Allah! Is there anything that the Left cannot turn into some racial incident? Call me. Racists.
Christopher:
Exactly. And that is where forcibly breaking humans into groups can lead to, as matoko never quite understood. It can lead to Treblinka, if we are not careful.
[…] could almost hear the audible hissing over McCain’s ad questioning O!’s unseriousness over drilling while O! continues his Great Pretender tour, yet […]
“If he wins then we’re even steven on the whole reparations thing, right? I mean like once and for all…”
Dream on, old sport. Four years ain’t enough for four hundred, god damn America, etc…
Here is a sample of the lyrics that I think should be added:
Say it’s only a paper moon,
Sailing over a cardboard sea.
But it wouldn’t be make-believe
If you believed in me.
I never thought she was capable of cheating, I guess I was wrong.