Damn You Obama For Being So Cool!

Oh for the halcyon Eschaton-mongering days of the Daisy girl ads.

Give me, please, the salacious insidiousness of the Swiftboat Vets for Truth.

Give me any of that over McCain's low: the Britney/Paris/Obama ad.

And I don't mean low as in: low-class, cheap shot and underhanded. I mean low as in: "I pay you guys all that money, and this is the best you can come up with?"

The best political ads have always had text and subtext; the obvious and the arcane. The obvious text of B/P/O is: "would you all stop loving this guy so much, please!" The whole ad seems like an open admission by Camp McCain that, yes, Obama is young and hip and cool, and our guy has trouble ripping songs onto his iPod unless his grandkids are around to help him.

But the subtext is where the ad doesn't even get going. Contrast it with the infamous Willie Horton ads. The subtext there was: Watch out! Mike Dukakis is gonna let dark-skinned people break into your houses and deflower your ivory wives and daughters.

But the most fear the B/P/O can monger is: Watch out! These guys are going to get all the good tables at Le Bernardin, and you know I got knocked down five spots on the list to get my new Ferrari California because of one of them.

The ad openly admits what we already know: that Obama is a superstar.

And no matter whatever other racial difficulties America may have, it's got no problem with its superstars of color. Tiger or Denzel or Will Smith or Michael Jordan, for which the phrase "I want to have his baby" was created. Like a teenage girl Camp McCain has basically scotch taped a Tiger Beat Poster of Obama to the wall of America's bedroom so that we may now all sit, stare and coo "Isn't he dreamy?"

But this lameness is not limited to McCain. To this day -- though certainly seasoned with some racism -- the only strategy that seemingly anyone can come up with to wield against Obama involves admitting he's better than them. You know; he's that lucky black man who actually appeals to the populace. He's that elitist who got himself off food stamps and into Harvard. He's the arrogant guy who would hang out at country clubs...if he wasn't so busy playing pick-up games of basketball.

He's like a wealthy heiress, and I know 'cause I got me one!

While some take offense at the ad, not me baby. Oh happy day when the enemies of ascendancy have got to confess that people of color rock.

The only thing that's going to make me happier is when Camp McCain runs the Bea Arthur/Jack Klugman ad announcing that uncool is the new cool.

Comments

[Boadicea]

The Republicans have worked for decades to make Americans afraid of anything that isn't white, old, male and christian. This is just a continuation of that meme.

Yeah, Obama is an international superstar. A pragmatic, reality-based, "let's get together and solve these big problems" superstar, and ain't it refreshing to see youth around the world so excited about good old fashioned pragmatism. There's hope yet.

[Emerge]

Unfortunately being cool will be judged harshly by those who prefer crass and awkward in their President.

[blaqntelligence]

"Like a teenage girl Camp McCain has basically scotch taped a Tiger Beat Poster of Obama to the wall of America's bedroom so that we may now all sit, stare and coo "Isn't he dreamy?"

Thank you John Ridley, as usual.
You nailed it. I always got the sense of john mccain as a lovesick wallflower. At first he tried to stick to his wobbly message but Obama has turned his little heart inside out.
Mccain's response? To behave as a boy just discovering girls and torment the girl he has the biggest crush on.
The old boy has got a man crush the size of Texas.

[janvoght]

to throw money in large amounts to admit that you are not as likeable or loveable or to admit that you have a sort of "old school" cuteness about you, is not working well in the 21st century arena of issues that stray beyond the familiar "war mentality" that sen mc cain brings. life is "REAL" for most of us. we don't travel in circles of the britney's or paris's, and the stale war that needs attention, isn't any closer to that "victory" that mc cain and his brand are inferring is the goal. his recent "dishonorable" attempt at smearing the competition, won't add much to the gas price dilema, and it won't put food on the table...does he have any real solutions?
obama '08 & 2012

[Sonoma]

"..I mean low as in: "I pay you guys all that money, and this is the best you can come up with?"

The Spears-Hilton ad reminds me of a story that Hunter Thompson related about a Muskie operative in his '72 Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail Book (or maybe it was a Humphrey aide). The guy spoke up in a meeting only to tell the candidate, "We've got to give people a reason to vote for you". Thompson wrote he would have had that kingmaker tossed down an elevator shaft if he'd been signing his paychecks.

[rationalthought1]

THe McCain campaign realizes that the 24hr a day media oulets need something to talk and argue about. The media can't resist Britney Spears and anything of a tabloid nature- nor can they resist talk of rascissm - this is much more attractive to them than substantive issues. Mocking is in. Why? ...because it plays to stupidity and our lower natures which, unfortunately, much of the mass-consuming public is drawn to. We are a nation of simpletons who, with the aid of ratings hungry, so-called news outlets, has been increasingly dumbed-down. This is the one thing the McCain camp IS in touch with. The McCain camp just wants to put poison into the inspirational well of Obama, to deflate all that hope so that he's not unreachable. They don't care about lying and absurdity since the media doesn't either.

[slg]

BushCo was the very best the rightwing had to offer. Senator McCain is the personification of a failed ideology. Nothing dissolves faster than an era whose time is up.

Senator Obama brings reason and gravitas into an arena long soiled by empty suits and talking heads. The entire "game" of politics and leadership is about to evolve for the greater good. Let's not be bystanders any longer.

[cdub1991]

"people of color rock."

Can't believe you said that out loud, brotha.

[mouselion]

O doesn't really fit my idea of "cool". He is not ugly, but not greatly handsome. What he has is a midwest, pragmatic straightness to his verbal delivery style. And, while he is personable and likable, he doesn't have great pizazz or movie star hotness. What he does possess is a command of knowledge about the issues he speaks about. He is not gaffe-prone. He comes off as "political," a politician, but not nerdy or wonkish.

Many people (Americans and the world over) want something called Change. They've been appalled at the strangeness that constitutes W's presidency. O's campaign platform represents Change and, also, that he is an African American, is an indication that Change will indeed be occurring. But, I can not see him as "cool" -- because he's not (and I wouldn't want him to be).

[politicky]

Obama's not just cool, he's SMART. After 8 years of preznit poopypants, the American people are starved for an intelligent leader, right?

[LiberalMathProfessor]

Seems to me that McCain et al. wouldn't be having such an easy time sniping at Obama this past week if Obama all along (since the start of the primaries) had been full of substance rather than rhetoric and lovely oration. I am not saying that Obama is unqualified or that McCain et al. are correct--he is and they are not. I am saying that time has come and gone for Barak to speak truth to the powerless (we the voters) and let that truth be detailed and hopeful in that it will show us his planned and certain way out of this lousy situation given us by the likes of McCain and his sorry buddies (a.k.a. Republicans in general and CheneyBushCo. in particular.)

[IncredulousGeezer]

Sadly, there may be no certain way out of our lousy situation, at least no obvious way without all of us experiencing considerable pain. The decision then becomes how explicitly must this be detailed by the Obama campaign to inform on the one hand and not panic those of the electorate unwilling or unable to think things through.

Professional politicians identify third rails, that is, those subjects which are untouchable as regards frank discussion. Taxation is one, criticism of the military-industrial complex appears to be another. My feeling is that Obama is going to have to test the voltage of these and other third rails to distinguish himself sufficiently from his opponent to overcome the natural advantages appears to have with important segments of the voting public. Will he have the fortitude and craft to do it and survive?

[timm553]

In answer to your question: Yes, he will.

[laire]

LiberalMat­hProfessor­,

I think its odd that you would say Obama needs to be full of substance rather than rhetoric. It sounds like you have been taken in by the media. If you want his substance you need to go to is position and policy papers. You first have to excite people first then they will listen to what you have to say. We live in a culture of sound bites not intellectualism and critical thinking. When Obama was first on the stage in Chicago people said he was too much of an egg head and to wonkish. He talked over peoples head and now people say his just rhetoric. Its up to the people to decide what they want in a leader. Lets hope people in this country are not so dumbed down that they cannot make an informed decsion.

[LiberalDemIda]

Nail on the head, Mr. Ridley! I was wondering what this media frenzy is all about with these talkingheads (this morning on MSNBC with that Alex something or another) about McCain liking "The Hills" and one of the those clueless blonde Hills Republican gals liking him, or that he's in talks with ... Yankee Daddy?!?! Who the HELL is Yankee Daddy?

Yep, you got it 100% - Obama is "kewl", McCain - NOT.

[BottomLine2008]

Great column! You're telling it like it is.

[BigMike75]

Wow Geritol John, talk about an inferiority complex. Let's see, a notorious underachiever that graduated 5th from the bottom of his class, rode his daddy and grandaddy coattails through the Naval academy, got shot down in Vietnam and was a POW for 5 years, came home left his wife for a pretty blonde heiress, used her money and resources for his senate run, embroiled in a scandal that bore the pseudo "Maverick/Straight Talker" image, pimped his "POW/Survivor" thing to 20 plus uneventful years in the senate. Versus, an unprivleged child of a single mother that worked his way through school, earned academic scholarships to the most decorated institutes in this country, became the first African American president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, turned down big money offers from law firms to work as a community organizer in Chicagos poorest communities, turned in a brief but so far inspirational career in politics, has inspired people like no candidate in a long time,,,gee, let me shine up my John McCain campaign button right now!

[ATL78]

You reminded me of this Damn You Barack Obama poem.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17113504

[JayInDallas]

One word: WOW.
Thanks.

[walkthewalk]

Since when are celebrity, charisma and gravitas mutually exclusive? Sure, there are people famous for being famous, but Obama is not one of them. He is the embodiment of the American dream. A person without any built-in advantages who became the first Afro-American President of the Harvard Law Review.

McCain's celeb ad is very ironic coming from a man who graduated fifth from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy and, like George Bush, was offered the affirmative action career path based on his family legacy of naval admirals. This is a man who left his first wife (who was seriously injured) for a much younger heiress because, as his ex says, "He didn't want to be 40, he wanted to be 25 again."

I want a grownup in the oval office. I want Obama.