American voters (who, after all, elected George W. Bush among other intellectual light-weights) generally seem to have a high tolerance for thin discourse, so I doubt that this particular criticism of Obama will sway voters very much (if anything, accusations of intellectualism would probably do more harm).  In any event, when the debates take place in September, we will get to see just how substantial the level of discourse is going to be.  It's too early to tell, as yet.

profwhat: Her only slams on him were pretty mild--they were based on his age, and that's not exactly something he has been hiding.

Au contraire. If that really was Paris Hilton, and she was delivering her own message (i.e. didn't have a staff of writers at collegehumor.com helping her), then I see the message itself as the harshest attack.

The subtext of McCain's message was intended to diminish Obama through his celebrity by tying him to the celebutants (nice term, that). The celebutant chose to counter, not in Obama's defense but her own, by demonstrating that she could achieve some level of relevance and reasoned discourse herself.

Which is why I wondered about ghostwriters, etc.

I love watching you try to fool yourself.