Obama's sex appeal strategy

We already know many in the media have a crush on Obama. The story about his sex appeal is not new, dating back to the "Obama Girl" videos. We also know he's long been adored by many in Hollywood.

But now it's becoming blatent :

When asked what brought her to the Hill, Lopez smiled.

“I’m not ready to do any press yet,” she said, her eyes hidden behind a pair of big, black sunglasses.

Today we saw yet another story:

Scarlett Johansson, it appears, has a crush on Barack Obama.

OK, admittedly not a shocking development coming from the same Hollywood who treated Bill Clinton like a movie star. It's also entirely consistent with the shallow nature of the entertainment field in general, many of whom might rank sex-appeal a higher presidential qualification than the average skid row drunk. Therein lies an opening for McCain--exploiting Hollyweird hate.

Thing is, McCain doesn't have any street cred with the values voters. They don't have the passion like Scarlett and McCain hasn't returned much love back--the entire Hagee affair left the odor of rank pandering gone awry. And the recent story of his polite refusal to meet with Billy Graham, whether true or just a mixup, exemplifies the perception.

Showing his keen political acumen Obama didn't waste any time meeting with religious leaders, seizing on McCain's tripups while trying to repair the damage done by reverend Wright. He might get some in the forgiveness crowd to believe.

But in general most will not defect. Now, whether a big Hollywood wet kiss on Barack might be enough to turn their collective stomachs remains to be seen [and no, there's no racial overtone in the preceding question. -ed]. The Supreme Court issue isn't going anywhere and while Obama might try to nuance his way through the debates on his judge selections most conservatives won't be buying. The 64K question is whether McCain can turn those voters out like Bush did. Right now it looks dicey.

Regardless, raw sex appeal fueled by a friendly media is a variable not to be overlooked in this day and age and with so many moderates in play. The left will carry no qualms about using sex and peer pressure to guilt young voters into going with the Obama flow so McCain's strategists best have that factored into their calculators.