McCain, Obama and Britney . . A Threesome I Must Forget

The Huffington Post ran an interesting article yesterday on a new McCain attack ad.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/30/mccain-ad-links-paris-hil_n_115841.html

The Huffington Post is undoubtedly a partisan news source, but at least it is openly partisan. The ad itself though is 100% McCain Campaign. After viewing the video, I realized that the find folks at the Huffington Post got it wrong. The attack isn't damaging to Obama because of how it attacks him; it's damaging because of how it attacks us.

Disclosure: I have donated money to the Obama campaign.

As with many other McCain Campaign ads, it uses a backdrop sound of a crowd chanting:

"Obama! Obama! Obama!"

The ad then smoothly segues into a comparing Obama to mega stars such as Britney Spears, who are also infamous for their various problems and foibles. But, the McCain ad has failed to take note of one fact . . . Britney is only a megastar because we (the people of the United States) made her one. She's not royalty. She wasn't born/married into this position of stardom. Obama's incredible popularity and yes, stardom come from the American people.

So when McCain points out his rivals star-power and then derides it with comparisons to Britney Spears understand that he is really attacking every single person who has ever supported (by vote, money or chant) the Obama campaign.

So here's some free advice for the McCain campaign. Attacking voters is not an effective way to win elections. Attack ads take on a whole new dimension when they attack the supporters of a candidate rather than the candidate himself.