Commentary: Need a Name for McCain’s Obvious Move to Woo Women? Call it the Elvis Presley Strategy

By: Tonyaa Weathersbee

Call it the Elvis strategy.

When Elvis Presley recorded one of his first hits, “Hound Dog,” in 1956, he was late to that party. Blues singer Big Mama Thornton had recorded it three years earlier.

Yet Thornton and many of the other black artists who Presley, as well as a number of other white artists, copied never acquired the fame that they amassed by putting a white face to the sounds they pilfered. Some died in obscurity.

When Presley died, he was dubbed King of Rock and Roll.

I bring all this up to talk about John McCain who, like Elvis, is now copying his election strategy from the black man he wants to beat out for president in November.

After months of being slightly behind Barack Obama in the polls, McCain apparently figured that the best way to get ahead was to steal some of the celebrity hood and the message that seemed to be benefiting his Democratic opponent.

And what better way to do that than find an attractive, 44-year-old white woman who, like Obama, had a story. Except that her story appeals to people who value her Americaness more than they value Obama’s.

Sadly, it seems as if a lot of them are out there.

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