Political advertising has come full circle. 

President Obama’s camp recently released an ad depicting the “Sesame Street” character Big Bird as the menace of all evils and the source of America’s economic woes. 

The ad was largely well-received, even by supporters of Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

Comedy, it turns out, works better than attacks. 

The earliest political television ads used fear as their method of achieving votes. 

The famous “Daisy” clip from Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 campaign shows a little girl counting the number of petals she picks off a flower. Suddenly, a countdown starts in the background, and ends with a mushroom cloud explosion, remnants of the supposedly inevitable nuclear war with the Soviets. 

“Vote for President Johnson on Nov. 3 — the stakes are too high for you to stay home,” the commercial said. 

Since the good ol’ days, campaign strategists have figured out that Americans don’t like to live in fear, much less be motivated by it. 

Campaign ads took a distinct turn from inspiring terror to directly attacking the opponent. 

The current Congressional race between Charles Boustany, and Jeff Landry, both Republican Congressmen whose districts have been reapportioned into one, are facing each other in a campaign of former allies. 

Landry, who currently has an ad attacking Boustany’s offshore drilling record, ends one commercial with the caption: “Liberal. Charles Boustany.”

First off, Boustany is not a liberal, and Landry knows that. However, politics are dirty. These two like-minded conservatives have to duke it out, and the winner will undoubtedly be whichever candidate appears the least liberal. 

But like I said, these ads are not well-received by the public. People get tired of seeing attack after attack, especially in a race between two former Republican allies. 

Obama has really tapped into something great here: satire. 

Laughter is an innate human desire. Sarcastic ads show us that politicians are capable of making a joke, and it makes them seem more human as opposed to robotic. 

If Obama keeps up the comedy, like with Big Bird and Samuel L. Jackson’s “Wake the F*** Up” ad, he could revitalize the youth vote that came out nearly 2-to-1 for him in 2008.

Romney’s strategists need to take a page out of the Obama playbook. Sex sells, but sarcasm is cheaper. 

There are nearly endless possibilities to what a Republican satirical ad would look like. For instance, the Romney camp could take a field trip to New Orleans and ask welfare recipients what they spend taxpayer money on. The answers will surely inspire laughter. 

Picture Romney sunbathing in his backyard, Speedo and bronzed out, holding a mirror and reflecting the UV rays to his face. Then all he says is, “This is all the solar power America needs.”

End the clip with a caption that says “Support Offshore Drilling” and you’ve got a multi-million dollar ad campaign.

Republicans and Democrats alike will jump at the prospect of seeing regular guy Romney catching some rays in his banana hammock. 

Someone should really hire me, this is just too easy. 

Comedy, satire, sarcasm  — whatever you want to call it — it sells. 

This is the new age of politics: makeup, scripts, Hollywood for ugly people. The first candidate to embrace it wins.