Barack and Britney, Together Again

I think Obama might be embracing that celebrity thing...

John McCain's campaign mocked the massive neoclassical set created for Obama's speech at 75,000-seat Invesco Field. Some Republicans have dubbed it the "Barackopolis," while others suggested the delegates should wear togas to fit in among the same Doric columns the ancient Greeks believed would stroke the egos of Zeus and Athena.

"It's only appropriate that Barack Obama would descend down from the heavens and spend a little time with us mere mortals when accepting the Democratic nomination," said Republican National Committee spokesman Danny Diaz.

The McCain campaign quickly dispatched a memo calling the stage the "Temple of Obama."

"We would have expected to read something like this in The Onion. Fortunately for us, it's true. Unfortunately for Obama, it's true," a McCain adviser told The Post.

But the set is designed to evoke the White House and the Lincoln Memorial, not the Acropolis, said staging supervisor Bobby Allen, a Spears set vet.

"We've done Britney's sets and a whole bunch of rock shows, but this was far more elaborate and complicated and we had to do it in far less time," said Allen, of RDA Entertainment.

"The biggest challenge has been making sure we don't damage the playing field underneath."

Asked who is harder to satisfy - the Democrats or Britney - Allen replied: "I better not answer that."

The curved, columned backdrop does resemble the portico of the White House, and blue carpeting and podium surrounded by white stars is suggestive of the Oval Office, other crew members said.

Democrats quickly pointed out that George W. Bush accepted the Republican nomination before a similar, though less elaborate, stage in 2004.

Except Bush wasn't mocked for being a celebrity at the time.

My view is that Obama's got the political skills to pull off reversing the momentum of the celebrity attack, but he needs to be aware of the effectiveness of it. Right now, he just seems to be adding more fuel to the fire.

Meanwhile, the question of whether Britney or the Democrats is harder to please is one of those juicy ones where I have too many good responses to post.