The Blog @ Spolitics

Is McCain Becoming More Hip than Obama?

While Obama has been trying to prove his bonafides as a leader and potential commander-in-chief, John McCain has been having a little fun, running ads comparing Obama to Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Moses. It was a tactic that led many pundits on the left and right to tell McCain to grow up. But those same pundits are now scratching their heads as to why McCain has managed to make huge gains among young voters.

There are, of course, various interpretations that can be offered. Obama has been exposed as a typical politician and has left many of his supporters feeling burned on key issues. But we shouldn’t ignore the hip factor.

Despite the fact that Obama is credited for being naturally cool, McCain might actually have an advantage in this area. Obama’s main challenge is to get voters to take him seriously; if he ran the kind of ads McCain has been running it could jeopardize his credibility. He has to play it straight, boring.

John McCain has years of experience and, therefore, is free to play it a little loose. His campaign has been running ads that resemble Daily Show gags (@1:30) and while it might not be completely responsible for his growing support amongst the young, it shouldn’t be discounted either. The fact that his campaign spied this opening, and has been able to exploit it, might just be one of the shrewdest moves of this campaign so far.