Resident Scholar Claude Barfield

Regarding your editorial "McCain campaign takes the low road," my reaction is some combination of "give me a break" and "lighten up!" Its prissy, mugwump tone, not to say its fractured logic, betokens a first effort by an earnest, cloistered graduate student never exposed to the rough and tumble of politics in America.

Attack ads, as you seem to admit in part, are not for the faint of heart. They are supposed to be "derisive." Just as John McCain has had to endure endless jokes from the late-night talk show hosts and Obama campaign surrogates about his ancient demeanour and alleged "befuddlement," Barack Obama cannot escape jibes at his relative inexperience and narcissistic approach to politics--"People of the world--this is our moment. This is our time." The "Anointed One" ad and the juxtaposition of the "vapid" celebrities, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears--which, as you ruefully admit, seem to be succeeding--have struck a legitimate chord.

Finally, you cruise right by Senator Obama's rejection of Senator McCain's standing offer (pretty heavy duty for a 72-year-old) to hold weekly unmoderated debates with him on each other's policy positions, by implication defending it as the privilege of a frontrunner. If a candidate refuses be drawn into substantive debate, "debased" (our graduate student again) derision may draw him out. In any case, as Martin Dooley said a century ago, "politics ain't beanbag," so get some smelling salts for your editorial staff before they venture into the pit of American politics again.

Claude Barfield is a resident scholar at AEI.