The Role of Jan Brady Will Be Played by John McCain

Monday, July 21, 2008 | 7:15 PM

By Sarah Scully
Much like the middle Brady Bunch daughter, John McCain can't seem to get any attention. Everyone is too busy noticing the many accomplishments of Barack Obama, who has taken on the role of Marsha Brady, the cheerleading, straight A, class president who sucks all the oxygen out of the room without even trying, leaving poor sister Jan ( a role previously played by Hillary Clinton) to lament: "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!" Perhaps the McCain campaign hoped that they would get a shot at center stage with Marsha out of town but the media is as fixated as ever on the senator from Chicago, who has been virtually inaugurated with a trip that is being covered like an official presidential tour. McCain's got a plan for Iraq, new thoughts on the economy, he even makes a funny joke once in a while but all anyone can talk about is Barack, Barack, Barack!
The issue reached its nadir today when the New York Times rejected an op-ed McCain wrote in response to one the paper published by Obama last week (Reuters). The Times refuted the story, stating that they merely sent back the article for a rewrite but McCain's camp is crying foul.
He may feel like chopped liver now but there are a couple of reasons for John McCain to buck up: Being an underdog suits him. McCain was never as appealingly scrappy as when he made a running leap from the back of the polls to win the New Hampshire primary and blow past all the other, better funded candidates in the contests that followed. Obama may be the star of the show but that means very little time to rest and prepare for the fall. McCain has time to nap, as he told Conan O'Brien. Another bright spot to focus on is the recent news that McCain is more popular than Obama in Israel (Politico). Something also worth considering: Constant attention eventually leads to more scrutiny so presumably, Obama will get caught in another gaffe (though he seems to have sailed through previous ones remarkably unscathed) or, more likely, start seeing a backlash from the media, who may start to chafe at the lack of reciprocated attention. Even Marsha Brady has her bad days.