‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Last week, Sen. Barack Obama appeared in an infomercial directed by… ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Last week, Sen. Barack Obama appeared in an infomercial directed by an Academy Award-winning filmmaker. John McCain countered by appearing on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ The two-year war for the presidency will end tonight, and Hollywood has been a more significant battleground than ever before. ‘ ‘ ‘ The power of Hollywood in an election season has steadily grown since the first Kennedy-Nixon debate. ‘ ‘ ‘ Nixon, who was ill and refused to wear makeup, appeared sickly and unkempt next to his young, prettied-up opponent. It was a turning point in the history of presidential races ‘mdash; candidates ever since have needed to consider the consequences of appearing on film. ‘ ‘ ‘ Of course, public figures had been caught by cameras before but never broadcasted to such a wide audience so quickly. And with the technology boom of the past 20 years, Americans are spoiled by the immediate availability of information. ‘ ‘ ‘ The candidates have come a long way since Nixon, and they know that appearance is everywhere and everything. In the fight to become one of the world’s biggest celebrities, star power is a bigger influence than ever before. Obama is credited with having a strong handle on the movement ‘mdash; his channel is the most-watched on YouTube. Look at photos or videos from his campaign, and see a confidence that comes from knowing just where the cameras are and when they’re rolling. ‘ ‘ ‘ McCain’s mobilization as a celebrity is less consistent. Not only does he sometimes seem unsure of how to act on camera ‘mdash; see his awkward wandering during the second debate ‘mdash; but he has also made the grave error of spurning Hollywood. When he cancelled an appearance on ‘David Letterman’ at the last minute, he returned weeks later to find the host in attack mode, grilling him about his campaign’s focus on Obama’s connection to William Ayers. ‘ ‘ ‘ Hell hath no fury like a talk show host scorned. ‘ ‘ ‘ The election is now firmly embedded in our pop culture, and the candidates can’t only be themselves ‘mdash; they have to pretend to be themselves.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Just like Stephen Colbert plays a fake version of himself on his punditry-spoofing ‘The Colbert Report,’ candidates have entered a bizarre un-reality of self-aware comedy. ‘ ‘ ‘ It was almost allegorical last Halloween when Obama appeared on ‘SNL’ wearing a costume of himself. ‘ ‘ ‘ Last Saturday, ‘Sarah Palin’ (as played by Tina Fey) suggested that if she doesn’t run in 2012, she could be a ‘white Oprah.’ Is that really so hard to imagine? ‘ ‘ ‘ With the line so blurry between Palin and Tina Fey’s version of her, the VP nominee is almost a mythic pop culture creation ‘mdash; an Alaskan bogeywoman, fist-fighting a moose in the community hockey rink parking lot. Her personality and mannerisms are approaching the point of meta-humor ‘mdash; she’s disappeared into her Wal-Mart mom persona, and like Joe (the Plumber) and Joe (Six-Pack), she’s now more of an idea than anything else. ‘ ‘ ‘ When you go Hollywood as a candidate, you walk a fine line. You have to be easily categorized but not derivative, self-deprecating but not self-parodying. Because after today, one person is going to be sentenced to at least four years in that spotlight, and it’s going to shine even brighter than it has up to this point. ‘ ‘ ‘ Whoever it is has to regain some semblance of self, lest we have a president who is nothing more than a caricature of an old man, or a hockey mom or a rock star. ‘ ‘ ‘ Even Kennedy had to take off his makeup eventually.