Op-Ed: John McCain Is The True Celebrity Politician

Yesterday the campaign of GOP nominee John McCain released its second ad portraying Democratic hopeful Barack Obama as a celebrity politician. But if you check the body of work, it may actually be that McCain is the bigger celebrity and the better actor.

The McCain campaign has had a great time poking fun at Obama in relation to the estimated 200,000 people who showed up for a Barack Obama speech in Berlin last month. They dubbed him a political celebrity then and have kept hammering the point. But that was no celebrity appearance; it was merely a speech in a foreign country. The McCain campaign attacked Obama for giving a campaign speech in a foriegn land. Has McCain & Co. forgotten that during this campaign season he has done the same thing, before Obama? By now we have all seen McCain famously stumble with his geography. So maybe McCain thought the speeches he gave previously in such countries as the United States of Columbia, and the United States of Mexico were really American protectorates like Guam or Puerto Rico. Perhaps McCain (actually his campaign and handlers) is chagrined he could not generate that type of crowd in those places, much less the 80,000 who showed up for an Obama speech in Oregon. In that case Obama is a celebrity or at least has star status. All kidding aside though, a real celebrity appearance is something that is made for TV or Movies or something in the entertainment industry. In that case McCain should not fret one bit because he beats Obama hands down. Many politicians have made the now obligatory Saturday Night Live appearance. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Vice-President Al Gore and The Reverend Al Sharpton have made some of the more memorable of those appearances. Barack Obama made his debut on SNL on November 3. 2007. Obama appeared as himself at a Halloween party thrown by Bill and Hillary Clinton. He came to the party in a mask of himself to boot. It was an even, safe performance. He garnered a large applause from the audience mostly in part because his was a surprise appearance. John McCain on the other hand, is the undisputed champion of politicians on SNL! He has earned rave reviews for some of his appearances. He first appeared in 2002 where he played the creepy husband of Amy Poehler among other characters. His later impersonation of John Ashcroft on in a parody of Hardball (my apologies for not being able to locate the whole skit) may have been the funniest that Darrell Hammond has done as host Chris Matthews. And his rendition of Barbara Streisand’s Memories goes down as a musical classic. He deservedly earned roars from the crowd for his performance in these sketches. What other politician has been more of a star? Remember, Ronald Reagan was a movie star years before his political career began. McCain has also made a cameo in the popular Fox TV series 24 as a staffer and appeared as himself with “The Ragin’ Cajun” James Carville in the hilarious film Wedding Crashers. His page on the Internet Movie Data Base is extensive. Maybe all of these years John McCain has been an actor playing a politician. Though, comparing his career up to winning the Republican nomination, and the campaign he (rather his campaign staff) is now running, I have to wonder: Was John McCain just playing the part of an honorable, principled politician all those years?