Barack Obama, John McCain and the Celebrity Wars

Yesterday, most of the mainstream news media was caught up in the ongoing superficial wars between the two media and political party-anointed candidates for the U.S. presidency. The mud is beginning to fly, and not unlike several of the last presidential campaigns, there is no positive "factual" information at least to the charges. It is the same type of fighting you would expect from two children on a school playground, you know, the "did so, did not" scenario.

This time the first gauntlet was thrown down by the McCain camp, in a political campaign ad depicting Barack Obama after his whirlwind tour of Europe as sidestepping the issues while fostering a "celebrity" image a la Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. As Roseann Roseannadanna would say, "Never mind" that John McCain has attempted to reach out to the youthful audience by appearing several times on Saturday Night Live during and after his "selection" as the presumptive Republican nominee. Mr. Obama's appearance in Berlin attracted over 200,000 Europeans. Maybe Senator McCain would have been better off focusing his ad on Senator Obama's past segways when asked to publicly debate him over some of the issues facing this nation, or if Senator Obama could attract half that amount at Yankee Stadium without Hillary Clinton's or Oprah's cheerleading or an opening act.

Next, Senator Obama came back chiding Senator McCain for breaking his promises insofar as mud slinging was concerned, and not sticking with the issues. Issues which, although a mesmerizing and forceful speaker, he does at times seem to have a rough time articulating with any real clarity. Then in comparing himself with past candidates, acknowledged that the Republicans would make fun of his funny name, (although I think "Spiro" Agnew beats "Barack" hands down) and the fact that he "looked different" than many of the past men running for the highest office in the land. Mr. McCain then came back indicating that Mr. Obama was playing the "race card," although Mr. Obama in his remarks did not allude to his black heritage, simply that he "looked different." Even if Mr. Obama was alluding to his black heritage in a roundabout way, he actually seems to have insulted more both Alan Keyes and Jesse Jackson both of whom also made attempts to seek the presidency in the past. I guess all this political doublespeak is meant more to confuse than it is to inform. I'm sure the interesting mud to the American people would be whether or not these candidates stated positions align with their voting records, or our Constitutional form of government. If not, then why or why not, and to which lobbyists they are, have been or will be accountable, based upon their campaign finance records. As many Americans are becoming aware with the length and manner in which these travels have been financed, after this election it appears some true campaign finance reform definitely is needed since public taxpayer funds were and have been used for both these candidates globe trotting ventures, while both Illinois and Arizona are one down insofar as representation during this two year exercise in excess. I guess I'm waiting for the candidate with the old fashioned campaign ads of the past, since "change" is not necessarily positive, especially change that involves "global" agendas putting global interests first. Something along the lines of "Putting America and Americans First, Fighting for Your Bill of Rights"

Maybe we need to put this in Eurospeak so both of these globe trotters and would be celebrities might understand. As Austin Powers, another great celebrity and European exclaimed - "Behave!"