Grasping At Straws

Ok, does it seem like the McCain camp is grasping at straws? This recent ad comparing Senator Obama to Paris Hilton and Britany Spears strikes me as desperate. It is certainly misguided. What the McCainites apparently want to do is cast Obama as immature and prone to do wild and dangerous things. Trouble is, the glove doesn't fit. Neither Spears nor Hilton is in the United States Senate or has served in a state legislature or spent the last seven months being vetted by the democratic party. They are also about half Mr. Obama's age.

There's a lot of problems with this strategy. The first is that it is stupid. The second is that the people watching it will think it's stupid. The third is that when people see Obama make these speeches it doesn't recall Paris and Britany out clubbing for the night, it recalls Bobby Kennedy, our great lost president (I saw somebody burst into tears upon seeing a picture of Bobby a couple of weeks ago). The more Obama manages to recall Bobby the better his chances of winning become, and McCain helps that by attacking his celebrity.

But the biggest reason this is a problem is because every time McCain points out how young Obama is he points out how old he himself is. Age is McCain's biggest handicap and Obama's biggest asset.