McCain Camp: Obama Bigger Celebrity Than Paris Hilton

The John McCain campaign tried to push back against Barack Obama’s star power Tuesday by comparing the Democratic presidential candidate to Paris Hilton.

“I’ll be the first one to admit that Barack Obama has become a global celebrity,” McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said on MSNBC. “Barack Obama has more fans across the world than Paris Hilton.”

Davis does not think “anyone would underestimate” the kind of “popular celebrity Barack Obama has become” both in the U.S. and abroad.

“There’s no question that he’s [an] international celebrity,” McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds echoed on Fox. “There’s something very special about the way he presents himself and the way that people react to him, particularly Germans.”

But while the McCain camp was congratulating Obama for achieving star status, it insisted that celebrity is not a qualification to become president.

“He’s not the first politician to go over there, he is just the first politician with fans,” Davis said. “John McCain goes to Berlin every year to talk to a series of defense ministers.”

“He talks about substance, he pushes back on the Russians, he talks about NATO, he talks about Afghanistan. He doesn