In his review, Schwab highlights the effectiveness of the video clips produced by the McCain campaign that frames Obama as a “celebrity not fit to lead” and his “cult-like” following.

Schwab also notes that this strategy of ridiculing Obama as a celebrity is the central theme of Jerome Corsi's book on what he calls “the Obama Nation”. This is the same Corsi, Schwab notes, who penned the pamphlet, “Unfit for Command” that successfully questioned John Kerry's military past in the 2004 elections in what is known as the “swift boat”strategy.

He adds:

“Il faudra néanmoins rester très vigilant jusqu'au bout dans ce genre de “basse campagne” et les trois débats télévisés officiels à venir auront toute leur importance pour corriger certains tirs et redresser certaines vérités. Car la campagne de John McCain a rappelé dans ses rangs un certain Steve Schmidt, artisan des campagnes victorieuses de Bush et Cheney en 2000 et 2004, mais aussi celle d'Arnold Schwarzenegger en 2006 pour sa réélection comme gouverneur de Californie. Ce redoutable directeur opérationnel est notamment le concepteur des deux clips républicains de l'été, “Celebrity” et “The One”, fustigeant le côté star et messie d'Obama.”

One has to be very mindful of this kind of “low class campaign” happening until the end of the elections. The three official televised debates to come will be critical to rectify some errors and correct a few distortions. Indeed, the McCain campaign welcomes into its ranks a certain Steve Schmidt, main contributor to the the successful Bush/Cheney campaign of 00 and 04 but also Arnold Schwarzenegger's for his reelection in 06 as the governor of California. This remarkable director of operations is notably the creator of the concepts behind the two Republican advertisements of the summer, “Celebrity” and “The One”, deriding Obama as a star and a messiah.

However, another European blogger, Julien Landfried posting at Ilovepolitics, points out the smear politics and accusation of elitism might be backfiring for McCain:

“le clip réalisé par Brave New Films ci-dessous démontre bien à quel point McCain est mal placé pour faire du “populisme”. Avec une dizaine de propriétés à son patrimoine (estimé à au moins 35 millions de dollars), sa vie est dans doute éloignée de celle d'un Américain ordinaire, en particulier à l'ère de la crise des subprimes…”

This video clip produced by Brave New Films demonstrates that McCain may not be the best person to “act as one of the common people”. Owning a dozen of real estate properties (estimated at at least $35 millions USD), his life is as far removed from the lives of regular American people as it gets, especially in this era of subprime crisis…

• In Trinidad, calypso legend The Mighty Sparrow sings that America could "regain worldwide respect with Obama’s vision", and in Jamaica reggae star Cocoa Tea adds "This is not about class nor color, race nor creed. It's about the changes, what the Americans need."
• In Egypt, a humanitarian worker has written letters to dozens of superdelegates urging them to back Obama.
• In China a dramatic Obama rally is being planned on the Great Wall.
• In Gaza, a Palestinian student has been making hundreds of campaign phone calls to the US over the internet, whenever he has electricity and is not under Israeli bombardment.
• In Kenya, Obama is so popular that a beer has been named after him!
• On the internet there over 40 international Obama fan groups on Facebook, many with more than 500 members, focused on Denmark, France, Indonesia, Tanzania and many other countries. There are also dozens of blogs and websites (see listings in the sidebar).

And wherever opinion polls have been conducted, comparing him with Clinton and McCain, Senator Obama is consistently the favourite candidate by a wide margin, for example:

• 74% in Japan
• 71% in Brazil
• 68% in Holland
• 64% in South Africa
• 61% in Britain
• 54% in Iraq
• 48% in Switzerland