Obama asks McCain: Is that the best you can do?

Responding to John McCain's ad which attempts, bizarrely, to link Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, Obama wonders:

Given the magnitude of our challenges when it comes to energy and health care and jobs and our foreign policy, you’d think that we’d be having a serious debate. But so far, all we’ve been hearing about is Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I do have to ask my opponent, is that the best you can come up with? Is that really what this election’s about? Is that what is worthy of the American people?

It is a bit laughable. :-) First Read reports on additional reactions to the McCain ad from the press and GOP strategists.

OBAMA ALSO REITERATED his position that offshore oil drilling will do little to help the American people in the short-, medium-, or even long-term:

Obama defended his opposition to expanded offshore oil drilling, saying it wouldn’t provide “short-term relief or medium-term relief or, in fact, long-term relief.”

“Now, although it won’t save you dollars at the pump, I have to say that it has helped raise campaign dollars,” he added. “Because last month, Senator McCain raised more than a million dollars from -- guess who? -- oil and gas company executives and employees – most of whom, most of these campaign contributions came after he went to Houston to meet with a bunch of oil executives and announce that he was in favor of offshore drilling. That’s not a strategy designed to end our energy crisis, it’s a strategy designed to get politicians through an election.”