Famous for being Famous

It's the ad that has made the presumptive presidential coronation of Barack Obama into a horse race again.

I'm talking about John McCain's new ad featuring Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and the media's annointed one himself Senator Barack Obama?

What do these three have in common?

The answer to that question is kind of a Rohrshach test for journalists, and they are failing it badly. It's been amusing to listen to the pundits trip over themselves trying to interpret it.

They call it silly. What do they have in common? For the life of them, they cannot figure it out.

They call it negative.

They call it racist. After all, it features two blondes and a black man so it must be outrageously racist! Say what? I can't follow that logic, but a lot of pundits on MSNBC and the nightly news shows apparently are enthralled with the brilliance of that argument.

I was listening to a morning drive time radio host this morning who has apparently been getting the Democrat talking points memos. She referred to it as the "blonde ad". "I don't get it", she said. What do the blondes have to do with Barack Obama.

It's simple really. The ad means what it says. It's about "celebrity". The first line of the ad says - as it is showing our three celebrities - that "Barack Obama is the biggest celebrity in the world".

Why is the ad pointing that out? Why is that bad? What do these three have in common?

What they have in common is celebrity at it's worst: being famous only for being famous. Having no real accomplishments that justify you being famous. It's that simple.

What is Paris Hilton famous for? What has she accomplished to justify her relentless celebrity?

What has Britney Spears accomplished in the last few years to justify weekly covers on magazines?

What has Barack Obama accomplished to justify being the presumptive nominee and media annointed one to be President. He had one term in the Illinois Senate, where he sponsored no bills and voted "present" more than 130 times. He served one year in the U.S. Senate before he started running for President. He passed no major legislation. He didn't even chair any hearings on the committee he headed.

Paris - famous, no accomplishments. Britney - famous, no accomplishments. Barack - famous, no accomplishements. It's the perfect visual analogy.

Not only is it a dead-on accurate visual campaign ad, but people outside of the elite punditry get it. It's effective. McCain has erased Obama's lead since the ad came out.

It's an effective ad from McCain, and it's about time!