McCain Tilting at Celebrity Windmills, by Roger Simon

John McCain has found a terrible word to call Barack Obama. In two recent ads, McCain has called Obama the "c-word."

That's right: John McCain is accusing Barack Obama of being a celebrity.

Heavens. What a thing to be.

To me, accusing a presidential candidate of being a celebrity is like accusing a ballerina of dancing on her toes — it sort of defines what the person is — but maybe I just don't get it.

McCain's now famous "Celeb" ad featured pictures of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Obama giving a speech to a huge crowd in Germany. The voice-over said: "He's the biggest celebrity in the world. But, is he ready to lead? With gas prices soaring, Barack Obama says no to offshore drilling. And says he'll raise taxes on electricity. Higher taxes, more foreign oil, that's the real Obama."

To me, the ad was nearly incoherent. I could never figure out what Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Barack Obama, Germany and oil prices all had in common.

I was not the only one. John Weaver, McCain's former top aide, who lost a power struggle and left the campaign a year ago, told blogger Marc Ambinder that the McCain ad was "childish." And, when you think about it, isn't McCain a celebrity, too?

"John's been a celebrity ever since he was shot down," Weaver said.

But the ad got a huge amount of attention — it got at least 1.6 million hits on YouTube, and Paris Hilton did her own response video recently — and so McCain has come out with a new ad called "Family."

In this one, there is more video of Obama in front of a cheering crowd and the announcer asks: "Is the biggest celebrity in the world ready to help your family? The real Obama promises higher taxes, more government spending. So, fewer jobs. Renewable energy to transform our economy, create jobs and energy independence, that's John McCain."

Again, there is a leap of logic that you have to make: Because Obama attracts huge crowds, he is a "celebrity" — and that means he'll raise taxes and increase government spending, and he doesn't care about your family.

Uh, OK.

But I wonder if McCain would really turn down Obama's huge crowds. Why are huge crowds bad? Isn't it a good sign for a politician when people want to come out and hear him?

And Obama had a pretty good response to McCain's "Celeb" ad. Speaking to reporters in Lebanon, Mo., last week, Obama said: "You know, I don't pay attention to John McCain's ads, although I do notice he doesn't seem to have anything to say very positive about himself. He seems to only be talking about me."

There is an upside for McCain in these attacks: If McCain can define Obama before Obama can define himself — as Republicans did to John Kerry with their Swift Boat attacks in 2004 — McCain could do well.

But there is a potential downside: It is dangerous to go negative before you have established your own positives. And McCain has to worry about his own image. He does not have the image of an attack dog, but, rather, the image of a maverick, who is not a super-partisan and who wants to attract the votes not just of Republicans, but also independents and even some Democrats.

McCain's campaign seems to have decided, however, to define Obama as shallow (i.e., just a "celebrity") who has no substance, while McCain is the candidate of experience.

Seems to me Hillary Clinton tried that, and she didn't get very far.

But McCain is quite worried about the "enthusiasm gap" that was apparent in the primaries this year: Democratic candidates attracted much larger crowds and much more money than Republicans candidates did.

So McCain is dismissing the enthusiasm surrounding Obama as just meaningless celebrity enthusiasm.

A celebrity has been defined as a person famous for being famous, but that is not all bad in politics if it attracts attention, crowds, money ... and votes.

And if you win, nobody calls you a celebrity. They call you Mr. President.

To find out more about Roger Simon, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.