Required Reading

As funny and over-the-top as the video is, it crystallizes several important things about the Obama candidacy. It’s not just that people have finally found a way to laugh at Barack Obama. As regular readers of this site know, we cracked that code months ago. But what this clip does is bring together all the parody-worthy elements of the Obama phenomenon. The ridiculous devotion of His followers, His scandalous lack of accomplishments, His and His campaign’s hypersensitivity – they’re all there. Most noteworthy is the comedy value that the swooning Obama supporter brings to the table. The Obama campaign rests on a foundation of irrational devotion. As I pointed out yesterday, several people who should know better, including conservatives like Andrew Sullivan and Doug Kmiec, have made Barack Obama the vessel for their hopes and dreams. This was never a rational decision, and as the meringue-like solidity of the Obama campaign becomes ever more obvious, that foundation has the potential to crumble. One last word about negative campaigning, specifically Barack Obama’s reaction to negative campaigning. During the general election season, Obama surrogates have suggested that John McCain is senile and minimized his military service in a serial fashion. Somehow John McCain carried on without whining over these attacks. And yet now the Obama campaign is driven over a mental ledge when a satirical ad compares its hero to Paris Hilton? As Captain Ed Morrissey said on another occasion regarding Obama’s paper thin skin, get a helmet, Buttercup. UPDATE: I have been informed that the star of this video is doing a voiceover of a talented young gentleman named Chris Crocker who previously starred in the viral video, “Leave Britney Alone.” I apologize for my pop culture ignorance. 2) From the Wall Street Journal, “Is John McCain Stupid?” by Daniel Henninger As the title of this column suggests, Henninger is a little peeved at John McCain:

My many critics, please take note: What’s about to come will mark the second time in one day that I’ve defended John McCain. Here’s what people have to understand about John McCain: There are some issues he cares passionately about. Among those issues are the most vital ones, namely those involving national security matters. On such matters, you can count on John McCain to fight like a pit-bull but with much more ferocity. On virtually everything else, John McCain’s style of leadership is to try to get things done. And that means compromise. Some of those compromises like his notorious one on immigration reform will drive conservatives nuts. But McCain is what he is, and he’s also the only candidate in this race who realizes a national security plan requires more than spewing a lot of One World gibberish on a global tour. So when McCain expresses what seems to be agnosticism on everything ranging from the environment to payroll taxes, take him at his word. A McCain administration will likely bring a lot of agita to American conservatives. (Good news thought for the makers of Prilosec, the sole known cure for agita.) But conflating the trademark McCain willingness to reach out to the other side with stupidity is unfair. With his plea for “intellectual discipline,” though, Henninger occupies more solid ground. Candidate McCain long ago developed the habit of freelancing. This was fine when he was riding the Straight Talk Express in 2000 with but a handful of worshipful media types in tow, all eager to play his Boswell. The senator is playing a bigger room now, and he has to sharpen up. If that means he has to cut back on his beloved spontaneity, so be it. 3) From the Wall Street Journal, “Obama’s Iraq Fumble” by Karl Rove Someone has to say it, so it might as well be me. When Karl Rove first started writing for Newsweek and appearing on Fox News, he was an exciting presence. He was full of fresh insights, and given his pedigree you had to listen to what Rove said. Now, several months later, Rove is mailing it in. In today’s WSJ column, Rove focuses on Obama skipping Landstuhl and His apparent inability to admit a mistake. Yes, Rove is correct that these are major stories, but the stories and his insights regarding them are both nearly a week old. The column has all the freshness of a chewed piece of Wonder Bread. It wouldn’t be fair if I left you with the impression that Rove is somehow deficient as an op-ed columnist. I’m always amazed at how many op-ed columns address topics that high end news gatherers had worn out days earlier. So by a more lenient measure, Rove’s effort is par for the course. But Rove is arguably the most accomplished political strategist of the past quarter century. He has more to offer than insights that even Joe Klein might have previously stumbled over. 4) From the L.A. Times, “Obama’s Best Strategy? Attack” by Jonathan Chait This is the second time I’m recommending a Chait column in as many days. It’s also the second consecutive day I’m recommending a Chait column for the specific purpose of showing how blinkered Obama supporters can be:

I hate to burst Chait’s bubble regarding the lily-clean purity of the Obama campaign, but the Obama campaign has indeed attacked. As I mentioned earlier, His surrogates have steadily suggested that John McCain is senile. They have also minimized McCain’s military service. There’s also the flip-flopping charge that Obama and His surrogates have habitually lobbed at McCain. And then just yesterday, Obama Himself dipped his big toe into the vile pool of negative campaigning, implying that the McCain campaign and its supporters were a bunch of closet racists who soon enough would let their true colors show. So Chait should be happy – these are attacks. What should make Chait unhappy is that they are spectacularly ineffective attacks. The personal attacks have been laughable. The flip-flopping ones had a juvenile I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I quality to them. And the most recent charge of raaacism is about a thousand times more likely to backfire on Obama than to help Him. There’s a point to negative advertising that eludes Chait, at least as far as John McCain is concerned. The reason negative campaigning worked so well against the likes of John Kerry and Michael Dukakis is because they were unknown quantities. Effective negative campaigning came to define them for the American public. There’s a problem applying this strategy to John McCain. As the Obama campaign has pointed out on numerous occasions, McCain is not a young man. Indeed, he has been an American political fixture since the earth cooled. In other words, John McCain has defined himself. But if the Obama campaign wants to waste some of its limitless resources on attacking McCain and in the process sullying its candidate’s pristine image, I wish them happy hunting. 5) From ESPN.com, “Ramirez Traded to Dodgers in Three-way Deal” by some guy Let me be the first to say on behalf of Red Sox Nation – our long national nightmare is over. Manny Ramirez can go be Manny for some other unsuspecting team who thinks they’re merely getting one of the greatest sluggers ever. Yes, the Dodgers are getting that, but they are also getting one of the most frustrating talents ever to play the game. And they’re going to drop him into the middle of a pennant race. Good luck to the Dodgers. For me, for the first time in almost eight years, it is now once again safe to watch the Red Sox without risking a coronary. BONUS! A quote of the day from Lindsey Graham: “Somebody asked me about (Obama in) Germany. I said, ‘There goes Germany. We’re going to have to get to 270 without Germany.'”