 McCain ad compares Obama to celebrities like Hilton, Spears
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-01 07:23
John McCain suggested that Barack Obama is a lightweight celebrity who isn't ready to lead the country by releasing a commercial comparing the Democrat to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. While Obama tries to depict McCain as offering a mere continuation of Bush's unpopular policies, McCain wants the presidential campaign to be about Obama. To that end, the Republican is helping frame a not-so-flattering portrait of Obama for voters. His ads have become increasingly tough; a third of his commercials portray Obama negatively, a new study concluded. A new ad launched on Wednesday by the McCain campaign suggests Obama is nothing more than a lightweight celebrity. Images of him speaking to a 200,000-strong crowd in Berlin last week are interspersed with shots of Spears and Hilton. "He's the biggest celebrity in the world, but is he ready to lead?" the voiceover asks. Obama's campaign quickly counter-punched with a commercial of its own, dismissing McCain's complaints as "baloney" and "baseless". The ad showed images of the Republican contender with President George W. Bush and accused his 71-year-old rival of practicing "the politics of the past". McCain cannot compete with his Democratic rival on popularity. Instead, he is working on sowing doubts about his opponent: that Obama is not tested, not ready to lead and too out of touch with the public. Obama has no trouble setting fundraising records or drawing big crowds at home and abroad, but he himself concedes that his challenge is getting voters to see him as president "It's a leap, electing a 46-year-old black guy named Barack Obama," he said on Wednesday. As the presidential campaigns head into the stretch before the August and September nominating conventions, both Obama and McCain were focusing on battleground states in the Midwest. After a weeklong overseas trip to burnish his foreign policy credentials, Obama has been working overtime to focus on how to fix the troubled US economy and overcoming doubts voters may have about the first black man to make a serious bid for the White House. Agencies (China Daily 08/01/2008 page12) |
