Paris is Burning

There are many ways to catch a spark in the political melee that is the race for the US presidency. Playing the race card is always a good, old fashioned, incendiary maneuver, as is questioning your opponent's patriotism or spilling a family secret ( a la John Edwards- oh, how the well-coiffed have fallen). But these dirty games become even more enticing when the mud is thrown from outside the fight and everyone gets hit.

Case in point, the satirical campaign video featuring Paris Hilton that was posted on Funny or Die.com this week. According to Jenna Wortham at Wired.com, the viral video has been watched 6.2 million times (as of Friday), giving a major boost to the traffic at the website. And no wonder: the clip is in direct response to a recent campaign ad put out by the John McCain camp (that's short for "campaign"! I hope to pick up more obvious jargon soon), posing Barack Obama as a celebrity idol, like Britney or Paris, who is as vapid and as irrelevant to US politics. Enter Paris.

When I first saw reference to her "response ad," it was in a story on CNN. What struck me was that although the anchors were flippant and dismissive when mentioning her name, theycovered what she said, the message of her madness, in newsworthy detail. Which is why I blurted, "She's a genius!" at the TV screen. (I now I formally demand a retraction from myself; it obviously wasn't her idea or her thoughts displayed). But at the same time, this is possibly the most effective use of celebrity power in a campaign since...I'm bad with political history, does anyone know? It's effective because no one cares about her message and she's not affiliated with either candidate, so she's not tarnishing anyone's record by association. But what she said actually makes sense: combine the proposed energy policies into one with a little compromise.

So essentially, Paris got into the presidential fight and emerged unscathed. If anything, it boosted her celebrity, while diminishing the effectiveness of McCain's ad and the enthusiasm for Obama's energy policy. If only we as a nation were as inclined to listen to what the experts are saying about the race. That will never happen, though, because we Americans always want our serious news with a sugary dollop of pop culture.

(If you want more of a fix, view the new video at jibjab.com. It pokes fun of the candidates as only Americans know how).

This entry was posted by Nicole, on Monday, August 11, 2008. You can leave your response.