Senator McCain’s campaign has released its latest ad on The One and his Road to Denver.

It is another excellent ad: humorous and effective, building on the narrative the McCain campaign has created about Barack Obama, World Celebrity. And it sets a nice trap on the way to Denver. A half-year ago, who would have thought that the ads generating the most buzz, and creating the most anticipation, would be by the McCain campaign?

It has done what is extremely difficult in politics: taking an opponent’s strength – in this case, the excitement and energy Obama created – and turned it into a liability. Obama is seen as hip and cool, but he is also increasingly viewed as strikingly self-centered, presumptuous, and a bit prickly. On a deeper level, and for a combination of reasons, he’s beginning to look somewhat shallow, untested and unready for the presidency, and, on several key issues, quite radical (his unwillingness to support a bill against infanticide being just the most recent example).

McCain, having begun to shatter the Mythic Obama, has reduced Obama to what he is: a young, talented, hyper-ambitious man who four years ago was serving in the Illinois state senate, having established a record of unmitigated liberalism.

The problem for Obama now is that, in “fighting back,” in promising not to be “swift-boated” and in his determination to prove he really, truly is a Tough Guy, Obama is eviscerating whatever was left of the New Politics he once stood for.

It’s been an odd summer for Senator Obama; he hasn’t made any obvious unforced errors, and yet his approval ratings are dropping at a fairly rapid rate. The public appears to be tiring of this fresh, new face. Words that seemed eloquent and even moving six months ago now seem vague and vapid. And the appeal he generated among some supporters, particularly the videos of people chanting “O-BA-MA,” now looks slightly cult-like.

The Obama campaign, having seen their lead collapse when everything should have been working in its favor, must now harbor serious concerns about their candidate and his appeal. And often when deep doubts emerge, campaigns and candidates begin to do foolish things. It’s worth recalling that Obama has never faced a serious Republican before. He is now. And with Steve Schmidt having largely righted the McCain campaign, this race could get even more interesting