A new John McCain TV spot likens his presidential opponent Barack Obama to media darlings Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

This analogy is not entirely accurate. Except for those pesky parking tickets while at Harvard, Obama's driving record is better than either of those much-rouged road menaces.

And beyond that, Britney and Paris are celebrities shadowed by a swarm of paparazzi.

Obama apparently is tailed by a "paper-azzi."

During a recent stop in Jerusalem, the presumed Democratic nominee followed custom and tucked a note to the almighty into a crack in the Western Wall.

Obama apparently had not a prayer of keeping this plea to the heavenly Commander in Chief a secret. An Israeli student retrieved the note and sold it to a newspaper. Although it was written on the stationery of Obama's hotel and in a handwriting that appeared to be the candidate's, his campaign will not confirm that he authored it.

Why I don't know, because the content was hardly a bombshell.

Anyone hoping for the words: "Bless my vice presidential pick Brad Pitt" was in for a letdown.

The note read: "Lord — Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will."

Far be it from me to critique anyone's prayer. Mine have been known to be lame and self-serving, especially around my birthday and major holidays. But I found this as generic as those plain-wrap products on the grocery shelves. It had all the right ingredients, but there was no brand identity, nothing that said "I am Barack Obama, the first African-American to be the nominee for president of a major party in the most powerful nation in the world."

It's a one-supplication-fits-all effort that would offend no one. Some cynics have suggested that is exactly what happened. His campaign didn't want Obama leaving a paper trail.

But with the campaign heating up as we go into the general election, you might expect something a little more like this: "Lord, as you are well aware my country faces serious and complex problems. All the easy ones were solved by my predecessors or during those endless primary debates. So explain healthcare reform to me, again. And, Lord, protect me from any further Jeremiah Wright eruptions on YouTube. Allow me to unite in the minds of all my fellow Americans the names of George W. Bush and John McCain.

"P.S. Would you tell me where I might locate Osama Bin Laden."

Since there is no stronger impulse under the heavens than to edit the writing of another person, I asked several local folks what they might add to the Obama prayer to give it a little more heft.

The answer came fast from Cathy Brudnicki, a longtime activist for the homeless. She would include a clause for world peace. "Peace would give us the opportunity to invest the funds now spent on waging war on other needs: education, medical care, housing and social services here in the United States and in other countries," said Brudnicki, executive director of the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition.

Her sentiment was echoed by Gabino Aguirre. The Santa Paula City Councilman and community activist added: "Let this nation be a leader in the movement to reverse global warming and heal our planet."

The Rev. Jack Phillips would pray this nation stop distracting ourselves with "American Idol" and become active citizens.

The Episcopal priest and president of the Camarillo Democratic Club would add this: "Lord, help me to be responsible to myself, my family, my country and my world."

Republican Mike Osborn said a request for humility should be in order for anyone running for president. "If it were me, if I were running, nothing would be so apparent as my own inability to cope with the enormity of the job," said Osborn, chairman of the Ventura County Republican Party.

"God would understand that I was asking for his help — not for my success — but for the success of the country," Osborn added.

What would inspire Bonnie Rose is a candidate who openly acknowledged that it's not about winning. "It's about the willingness to surrender to God acting through the American people to select the candidate who can be the best place for integrity, courage and strength for the country," said Rose, the pastor at the Ventura Center for Spiritual Living.

Or Obama might have considered asking for the help of the person who is arguably the most seasoned prayer-sayer in all of Ventura County. At 100, peace activist Bill Hammaker has been alive since Teddy Roosevelt occupied the White House.

Borrowing from his Penn State alma mater, Hammaker would add this, "May no act of ours bring shame to one heart that loves thy name."

Shame might be only a vague concept to Britney and Paris, but it's found a home in the Oval Office too often.

If the next president can follow the rules of the road on the straight and narrow, well now, that might be a change we can believe in.

Oh, I almost forgot. Amen.

E-mail this Star columnist at ccason@VenturaCountyStar.com.