Obama’s obsession with the celeb ad (“He can talk all he wants about Britney and Paris…”) and with challenging McCain to stop supposedly questioning his patriotism, etc., is exactly the wrong approach. When a candidate lets his message become about how unfair the other side’s attacks are (see McCain circa 2000) it’s always a bad sign. Talking about campaign tactics just doesn’t resonate with voters and it comes off as whiny, something Obama should be especially careful about given his toughness gap. Obama should stay focused on the substance–it will speak to a certain seriousness and it can keep him on ground (at least on domestic issues) where he has an advantage. Here’s another good tax ad from his campaign, hitting McCain on the middle class.