Obama has to paint McCain into a corner.

McCain uses "celebrity" to define Obama in a single word that upends Obama's strength and casts it in a negative light. "Celebrity" is a narrative frame into which the GOP smear machine can stuff every negative idea about Obama from Rev. Wright to elitism to placing ambition above country. It is flexible, functional and damaging. Most of all, it is emotionally charged, easy to remember and discredits Obama's values.

Now, Obama must do the same for McCain.

I've come up with the deceptively mild phrase "so predictable." And that is part of its beauty, I believe, because it can be used over and over again with absolute impunity, to the same effect as "celebrity."

Think about the negative connotations of "so predictable." It plays into everything predictable about a Republican candidate and, like the "celebrity" meme, turns McCain's biggest strengths — his perceived independence and experience — on their heads and into a negative.

How? Because, instead of using what is already widely known about the candidate himself, as McCain's ads use Obama's charisma, the context of "so predictable" includes not only McCain's conservative record but also the last eight years of Bush/Cheney rule.

"So predictable" evokes "McSame" without twisting McCain's name. "So predicatble" is the perfect antonym for "maverick."  It strips McCain of cover as a reforming centrist. It says McCain is just another Republican offering more hard times and more wars. Without using ageism, "so predictable" strongly conjures a person whose stodgy views have hardened over time, creating a politically correct frame for a candidate with declining judgment, memory and abilities.

Into the phrase "so predictable," Obama can weave a narrative of a candidate who is predictably Republican, predictably aligned with Bush policies, predictably hawkish, right wing, in favor of welfare for the rich, tied to lobbyists and big corporations, bumbling, deceptive and secretive.

Here's my proposal for "So Predictable," the first in a series of ads using this theme.

SCRIPT

Clip from "Original Maverick" McCain ad

McCain Announcer: He'll reform Wall Street, battle Big Oil, make America prosper again. He's the original maverick.

Sound F/X: Needle scratching across record.

Picture freezes on McCain.

Announcer: Well, well. John McCain is at it again. He says he'll reform Wall Street, but his economic adviser scolded Americans for "whining" about hard times while he got paid by a foreign bank to lobby for the subprime mortgage industry.

Footage of shuttered homes, "Foreclosed" sign. Cut to John McCain on oil rig.

Announcer: And McCain wants billions more in tax breaks for big oil companies while they line their pockets and charge record prices at the pump.

More Americans losing jobs and homes while John McCain's rich friends get even richer. John McCain. He's so predictable.

Voiceover: I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message.