Undisguised Envy

by Steve Soto

So, it's come to this for the McCain campaign: lumping Obama, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton all together, and actually doing a national ad buy in battleground states on this theme.

A new campaign ad from Sen. John McCain -- which flashes shots of the two aforementioned megacelebrities -- calls Obama a megacelebrity, too, and questions his leadership ability.

"He's the biggest celebrity in the world. But is he ready to lead? With gas prices soaring, Barack Obama says no to offshore drilling and says he'll raise taxes on electricity. Higher taxes, more foreign oil -- that's the real Obama," the ad's narrator says while crowds screaming, "Obama!" are shown.

Wow, there's a direct slap at the adoring crowds Obama gets.

Steve Schmidt, another top McCain adviser, also said it was accurate to compare Obama to the two celebrities who, as one reporter said on the call, are often portrayed as "frivolous and irresponsible."

"I don't poll Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, but I know they're international celebrities, so apples to apples," he said.

A McCain adviser also told CNN's Dana Bash the ad targets Obama's "outrageous, narcissistic statements."

"It has not gone unnoticed by this campaign that Obama makes outrageous, narcissistic statements suggesting that his candidacy is what the world has been waiting for. Excuse me?" the adviser said. "What's going to happen when he parts the sea? What about all the fish in the middle?" the adviser said.

Actually, that's pretty funny, if not outright envious. But let's seen how the Obama campaign responds to their opponent belittling the American public in an attempt to get everyone to ignore that McCain's energy and economic policies don't add up. I haven't seen Obama's national ads (where are they?), but it seems clear that McCain has thrown down the gauntlet and said that Obama is nothing more than a lightweight celebrity, and not a serious candidate. If there was a time for Obama to use a Tier One/Tier Two effort and go right at McCain on real issues and the holes in McCain's agenda and rhetoric, now's that time.

Does anyone have any tape of Britney and Paris saying nice things about McCain?