Barack Obama has been compared to prominent political figures such as President John F. Kennedy, but opponent John McCain's campaign on Tuesday tried to portray him as an arrogant Hollywood diva, who doesn't have the credibility to be commander in chief.

"Barack Obama is the biggest celebrity in the world, comparable to Tom Cruise, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton," Rick Davis, Sen. John McCain's campaign manager, wrote in an e-mail addressed to interested parties after throwing out a similar line on a conference call with reporters.

"Only celebrities like Barack Obama go to the gym three times a day, demand "MET-RX chocolate roasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew -- Black Forest Berry Honest Tea" and worry about the price of arugula," Davis said.

Davis was riffing off news coverage that the Illinois senator told congressional Democrats Monday that he has become the "symbol" for the world's aspirations for America, and that the country is now at "the moment … that the world is waiting for."

Obama's supporters said the comments were not about him, per se, but about the world's view that the U.S. could be returning to the global community after years of ostracism following the war in Iraq.

"Only a celebrity of Barack Obama's magnitude could attract 200,000 fans in Berlin who gathered for the mere opportunity to be in his presence. These are not supporters or even voters, but fans fawning over The One," Davis wrote. "Like most worldwide celebrities, this status has fueled a certain arrogance."

The attempts to paint Obama as a diva followed comments by conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, who on Monday compared the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and his wife's fame to that of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

"You couldn't pass a grocery store line this weekend without seeing the picture-perfect smiles of the Obama family," she wrote in a piece distributed by Republicans on Wednesday. "There were Barack Obama's young daughters (whose privacy their parents so sanctimoniously claim to want to protect) flashing their pearly whites on the cover of People magazine. Malia and Sasha competed for attention right next to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's toddler daughter, Shiloh, whose cherubic face was splashed on the cover of another celebrity tabloid."

For his own part, Obama on Wednesday compared himself to western legend Wild Bill Hickock while talking in Springfield, Mo., about taking on John McCain on taxes.