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Eye On Ohio: McCain ‘Celeb’ ad
By Howard Wilkinson
Cincinnati Enquirer
The ad: “Celeb,” 30 seconds.
Producer: The McCain campaign.
Where to see it: Airing on Ohio TV stations and in other battleground states. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: Announcer: “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 he says he’ll raise taxes on electricity. Higher taxes. More foreign oil. That’s the real Obama.” McCain: “I’m John McCain, and I approve this message.”
Video: As the announcer calls Obama the “biggest celebrity in the world,” a series of images flash by of enthusiastic Obama supporters at his appearance in Berlin, which drew a crowd of about 200,000. Interspersed among the Berlin shots are two quick frames that show celebrities who are famous for being famous, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
This is followed by long shots of the throngs that greeted Obama in Berlin and of the Democratic candidate, waving to the Berliners. The scene suddenly shifts to a still photograph of Obama, with a series of graphic messages: “Higher taxes,” “More foreign oil” and, the kicker, “That’s the real Obama.”
Analysis: While the ad makes points that the McCain campaign has raised before about Obama and his energy policies, the energy issue is almost an afterthought to the central point — the suggestion that Obama is more interested in adoring crowds than in being the kind of leader the nation can trust.
By emphasizing Obama’s “celebrity status,” the McCain campaign is trying to cash in on recent media coverage suggesting the Democratic candidate and his campaign operation have been presumptuous and arrogant, acting as if the election is already over.
This ad hits Obama again for his opposition to lifting the moratorium on oil drilling off U.S. coastlines, which Obama has said, accurately, “won’t produce a drop of oil for seven years.” Even McCain, who supports offshore drilling, has said that it would produce no immediate relief from high gas prices.
The McCain ad’s claim that Obama says “he’ll raise taxes on electricity” is based on an interview Obama gave to a San Antonio newspaper in February in which he said “what we ought to tax is a dirty energy like coal, and, to a lesser extent, natural gas.”
According to the Obama campaign, what Obama was referring to was his proposal for a cap-and-trade mechanism that would set a limit on greenhouse gas emissions, allowing entities to buy and sell rights to emit. If that is the case, McCain is criticizing Obama for a proposal that he, too, supports.
Howard Wilkinson is a reporter for The Cincinnati Enquirer. E-mail: hwilkinson@enquirer.com.
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By Nobama
August 22, 2008 4:34 PM | Link to this
Only in Hollywood, where they live in a different world than the rest of us.