Barbra Streisand, the GOP Attack Machine, and Barack Obama's Image Problem

Should Barack Obama be out hobnobbing with A-list stars while Wall Street is crashing and John McCain is rallying with Main Street American workers?

On the one hand, there are 9 million reasons (all of them dollar bills) that drew Senator Obama to Hollywood last night. On the other, the timing could not have been worse.

Witness this new McCain TV ad that paints the Arizona senator as a hero of the little guy, which should be Obama's rap: 

Then, think of the TV coverage of Obama mingling with Barbra Streisand and all her überliberal Hollywood buds. Meanwhile, think of John McCain and Sarah Palin before an expansive audience of blue collar workers in baseball caps and T-shirts.

The Obama campaign's ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory never ceases to amaze me.

Maybe the Illinois senator will pull it off regardless, but jeez, you have to wonder what makes them stage imperial events (his acceptance speech, his speech in Germany) when he's struggling for the working class vote. Yes, Americans idolize the rich and famous. But that doesn't mean they want to see their president mingling with them. They want to see their president out in the trenches, acting like them, so they relate to, not revere, him/her.