Understanding the Presidential Campaign through the Films of the 1980s: Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

This week, Obama has refocused his campaign here at home after a successful overseas trip. The big story has been the McCain campaign's attempt to attack Obama for . . . having a successful overseas trip. So, they started running two new ads, one attacking Obama for cancelling a trip to a military hospital in Germany, and the other accusing Obama of being like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. This second ad is backed by ongoing complaints that the media has been nice to Obama.

This is all very Ferris Bueller. Remember at the end of the Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Jeanie is sitting in the police station. Principal Rooney in a mad attempt to catch Ferris playing hooky has broken into the Bueller's home. Jeanie, with the same mad goal, has attacked him. She's sitting in the police station where she gets some sage advice from a young Charlie Sheen:

Jeanie: I went home to confirm that the shithead was ditching school and a guy broke into the house and I called the cops and they picked me up for making a phony phone call.

Charlie: What do you care if your brother ditches school?

Jeanie: Why should he get to ditch school when everyone else has to go?

Charlie: You could ditch.

Jeanie: I'd get caught.

Charlie: So, you're pissed at him because he ditches and doesn't get caught?

Jeanie: Basically.

Charlie: Then your problem is you.

Jeanie: Excuse me?

Charlie: Excuse you. You oughta spend a little more time dealing with yourself and a little less time worrying about what your brother does. It's just an opinion. . . . There's someone you should talk to.

Jeanie: If you say Ferris Bueller, you lose a testicle.

Charlie: Oh, you know him?

John McCain is Jeanie--she's pissed that Ferris is so popular--he's everyone's friend, even the druggie sitting in the police station. She's pissed that Ferris ditches school, but Ferris doesn't just ditch school, he ditches with style.

Ferris joy rides in a classic Ferrari, talks his way into an upscale restaurant, goes to a Cubs game, and does spontaneous renditions of "Danke Schoen" and "Twist and Shout" with adoring crowds happily joining in.

Sure, who wouldn't be jealous? But in an election, you want to be popular. You don't want to have to argue that being popular is bad. John McCain would happily speak before 200,000 people in Berlin. But 200,000 people wouldn't turn out for John McCain. John McCain's problem isn't that Barack Obama is popular--John McCain's problem is John McCain.