Either the McCain campaign is grasping for straws or they are mired in a jealous obsession about what Barack Obama looks like shirtless on the beach in Hawaii. Regardless of which interpretation you take, you have a veritable Hobson's choice between infantile whining or trying to point out that Obama, 25 years younger, is both virile and attractive.
Pasty faced McCain will never win a beauty contest — unless he is competing against Mark Penn — but the criticism of both the media for printing the photo and the McCain campaign for complaining about it reeks of petty jealousy.
A number of bloggers like Greg Sargent and David Mizner have suggested that carping on shirtless Obama is racist by nature. Given the fact that the McCain campaign just aired the "hot chicks" ad featuring four, young white women, there may be something to this.
Indeed, Mizner suggests that merely calling out the McCain campaign on this tactic will trigger the pavlovian and predictable "race card" insinuation against Obama:
Of course, we're not supposed to point out that McCain is trying to exploit whites' fears of black sexuality.
That would be playing the race card!
This is how Reuters "covered" the story:
Look out, ladies. Barack Obama has taken his shirt off in public again.
The 47-year-old senator from Illinois, who created a minor sensation with a shirtless photo on his last trip to Hawaii, stripped down to his trunks on Thursday for an impromptu body surfing excursion.
Personally, I don't care who looks better in swimming trucks, but there is definitely power in imagery. Clearly, a fit and healthy presidential candidate sends a subliminal message that amplifies the chasm between the 46 year old Obama and the soon to be 72 senior senator from Arizona.
There is a reason that Ronald Reagan wanted to be photographed shirtless, just as iconic photos of both John and Robert Kennedy playing football or running on the beach suggested that each man could handle the rigors of the presidency.
Sure wing nuts will say Obama's fitness is proof of narcism and being concerned about your health, you know, makes you a "fag." If you don't believe me, ask yourself why Republicans seemed to obsess over John Edward's looks, going so far as to call him the Breck Girl."
My take on this is that Republicans will try to suggest Obama is a vapid celebrity obsessed with fitness and vanity and he is no different than Britney Spears or Paris Hilton.
Wing nuts will proffer the excuse that McCain can't lift weights because he was injured when he was a POW and unable to raise his arms. That maybe true, but he could walk or ride a bicycle. There are lots of types of exercise that don't require you to lift weights.
The wing nuts will naturally point out that Casper McCain has no intention of going shirtless as he has had a number of cancerous moles removed from his skin. It seems stupid to complain about your shirtless opponent because it reinforces the image that McCain is too old; that Obama is young, attractive, and fit; and the McCain campaign is engaging in petty jealousy by pointing this out.
Obama has been attacked for actually being too skinny. The reality is he should be lauded for his commitment to physical fitness especially since he quit smoking. Many ex smokers gain weight afterwords and Obama is concerned enough to take care of his 6 '1" 190 pound frame.
You can draw any conclusion you want, but the diminutive John McCain has a pear shaped body at 5'7" 170 pounds. Moreover, you get conflicting accounts about McCain's fitness. On the one hand, his physician claims that McCain is healthy enough to walk the rim of the Grand Canyon. On the other hand, McCain "earns" a nearly $60K disability pension from the Navy. So which is it, Johnny Fair Play? Are you fit and ready to serve or partially disabled?
One of the few good things I can say about George W. Bush is that he is in good shape for a man his age. Then again, having Dick Cheney and his five heart attacks literally a heartbeat away from the presidency would scare anyone into a vigorous daily workout regimen.