John McCain’s ‘celeb’ ad

Barack Obama comes under fire in a new campaign commercial from his Republican opponent for being a celebrity rather than someone who is ‘ready to lead’

Watch the ad above

There was always likely to be an attack on Obama from this direction. The idea that Obama is a politician with no substance who is popular in the old world is supposed to be a double whammy that would appeal to swing voters worried about rising fuel prices and the depressing state of the economy.

Is it effective? To me it largely fails and chimes with what one of the comedians said on the Daily Show. That McCain is adopting a masochistic strategy that makes him look so bad that it focuses attention on him—and that this seemed to work in the primaries when he was dead in the water.