Obama gave a response to McCain’s insipid “Celebrity” ad today while addressing a crowd in Iowa. It not only was artful and exciting but, as is his style, cut the core of why the ad was vile and galvanized people to reject such shenanigans.

“Given the seriousness of the issues, you’d think we could have a serious debate,” Obama said. “But so far, all we’ve been hearing about is Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I mean, I do have to ask my opponent, is that the best you can come up with? Is that really what this election is about? Is that what is worthy of the American people?”

That is what’s annoyed me the most about the GOP’s campaign - my dismay that they can’t seem to run on the issues.

What is McCain’s plan, exactly, on Iraq? How will his economic policies, set on keeping the financial rules forged by the Bush administration in place, benefit our country better than the Dems? What are his major initiatives?

Instead, we only get his contempt for his opponent - most of which seems arbitrary and manufactured, at best. That kind of contempt breeds contempt - it shows contempt not for Obama so much as for the American people, asking them not to vote because they believe in something, but because they’re afraid of someone.

The crowd yelled: “NOOOOOOOOOO.”

“Even the media has pointed out that Senator John McCain — who started off talking about running an honorable campaign — has fallen back on predictable political attacks and demonstrably false statements. But here’s the problem. All of those negative ads spending all this time talking about me, instead of talking about what he’s going to do, that’s not going to lower your gas prices…”

And how is McCain going to do that? His offshore drilling plan has been debunked as a pure deception. How is he going to handle the rising cost of living for the middle and lower class? He has said he wants to keep the system almost exactly as it is, financially.

Ultimately, this begs the question: Does he even care to tell us? Does he even have the basic respect for voters to give them a choice, rather than scaring them and leaving them to make assumptions that he’s better than the distorted image of his opponent?

Where is his respect for our democracy?

“It’s politics as a game,” Obama said. “But the time for game-playing is over. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States of America.”

Big cheers from the Iowa crowd.

And make no mistake, dear reader, that is why Obama is running, and why he is appealing.

This means that the extremists and ideologues on both sides of the spectrum are going to be disappointed. Already we hear outcry from the left-leaning “progressives” that Obama won’t do enough for them - won’t snatch us out of armed conflicts immediately; won’t stand absolutely against gun rights and for abortion rights; won’t always turn a deaf ear to the GOP.

That is because the very essence of his political career is to do away with that kind of divisiveness - especially on his own side. His chief mentors in Congress have included as many Republicans as Democrats, and his prose speaks not of a desire to push through a particular piece of liberal legislation, but to unite all people, regardless of party, in finding solutions.

That is the greatness of Obama - and that is true change.

McCain, with his deceit and gamesmanship and sentimentalism and fear-mongering and insular, elitist attitudes, is proving more of the same.