August 11, 2008

Party Like a Rock Star

Posted by Sarah Burris at 9:40AM

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It all began when John McCain's campaign released a television add attempting to tie his opponent Barack Obama's campaign enthusiasm to celebrities like Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears -- who don't entertain strong approval ratings by the public. The Today Show did a quick piece about the attacks where they asked the McCain campaign if these were supposed to label Obama as "frivolous and irresponsible" to which the McCain campaign responded, "Yes!"

The Obama campaign responded with an add of its own according to the Today Show clip, and the debate could have stopped there, but it didn't.

Progressive Accountability, a project of Media Matters and the Center for American Progress Action Fund released the McCain/Brittany ad which features the two agreeing on foreign policy.

If that isn't enough, last week Paris Hilton responded with her own video. Hilton evidently understood the tone the McCain campaign was going for and found the assumption that she was "frivolous and irresponsible" insulting. Her ad features an honest and intelligent presentation of her own energy policy coupled with humorous commentary about her own hotness.

Rachel Maddow on MSNBC's Road to the White House believes this is part of the media's interest in covering Obama's "exotic" or "celebrity" but neglects McCain's own "celebrity" characteristics.

In an op-ed in the LA Times Neal Gabler responds to the whole ordeal by saying Obama's celebrity stems not from a kind of rock star hysteria, but rather from an honest emotional connection that voters have with the candidate.

"It is insulting because it suggests that their devotees' effusions are just a visceral reaction -- the political equivalent of puppy love. And it is imprecise because Obama is -- and Bobby [Kennedy] was -- more movie star than rock star, which is an analogy with a difference. Rock stars, with some glaring exceptions, typically whip up the crowd; the thrill tends to be short-lived. Movie stars, by contrast, tend to create a long-standing emotional identification with their audience. It's a difference that may have a bearing on the outcome of this election as voters weigh the advantages of being a movie star against its disadvantages. Movie stardom can be confused with mere celebrity, which has connotations of insubstantiality."

He goes on to say that today all campaigns are like movies. I would add that with reality TV shows flooding the airwaves, that actual reality can seem a lot like something viewers could see in prime-time. Making presidential campaigns a lot like the American Idol of Politics and elevating the candidate to someone that we don't just want to vote for but we want to be a fan of as well.

This is a fun interactive blog today - so I ask you, friendly reader, regardless of your candidate of choice, do you want to also be a fan?