Gwyneth Paltrow stars in an ad from the Democratic Party, encouraging Americans who live abroad to vote. Oh, and Paltrow advises that the hip thing to do is vote for Obama.
Lesson 1: Never make a political ad two minutes long, especially when it’s this boring. Just because Paltrow is easy on the eyes doesn’t mean she has anything to say. But if the plan is to distribute cyanide pills and force Republicans to watch this ad, the Democrats have done good work. Paltrow could inspire half the Republican Party to check out early from this election. Lesson 2: Don’t cast Americans who sound and look like the German hipsters in the RNC spoof. Lesson 3: Don’t roll out an ad starring a celebrity just a week after the presumptive nominee of your party attacked McCain for using some footage of Paris and Britney in his ads. Even though Obama takes pointers from Scarlett Johansson, he said the use of celebrities amounts to a trivialization of important issues. As he put it, “[A]ll we’ve been hearing about is Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I mean, I do have to ask my opponent, is that the best you can come up with? Is that really what this election is about? Is that what is worthy of the American people?”