There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? Evita - Rainbow Tour
The Friday-Sunday poll, mostly conducted as Obama was returning from his much-publicized overseas trip and released just this hour, shows McCain now ahead 49%-45% among voters that Gallup believes are most likely to go to the polls in November. In late June, he was behind among likely voters, 50%-44%.…
As for the difference between the tracking and USA TODAY/Gallup polls, Frank [Newport, chief Gallup pollster,] says not to read too much into it. “Statistical noise” may be largely to blame.
...
The percentage of adults 18 to 29 who say they’re likely to vote has dropped < em>20 points since March. But why?
If the story behind the story of the canceled troop visit has run its course, one question remains: Why didn’t Mr. Obama leave his aides behind, even the retired general, and make the visit by himself?
“Even him going alone would likely be characterized by some as a political event,” Mr. Gibbs said in an interview on Monday, adding, “He decided not to put the troops in that position.”
Obama's answer to his lack of a bump and his inability to even match the lead his party has in the polling numbers -- drum roll -- racism!
Answer: Pretty well. He’s not playing the race card. From Newsday:
“The point is, with change comes some risk, and I combine two things,” he said. One is a shift in policies, the other a biography he said will take people time to process. “They’re going to keep their powder dry and get as much information as they can the next three months,” he added.
There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? Evita - Rainbow Tour
Just back from an eight-day trip to the Middle East and Europe, Barack Obama went to see a doctor Sunday night at the University of Chicago Medical Center to examine a sore hip.
"His hip has been sore from basketball for a few weeks, so he's going to see an orthopedic doctor," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
...
Obama left the hospital less than an hour after entering, telling a pool reporter that he had some X-rays done because of a basketball injury but "It's all good." "I think I'm going to be good in about a week."
It says more about John McCain that he appears to be the one with the physical stamina doesn't it. -- CNN
Barack Obama: The Child - The Messiah - The Obamessiah
Now that he has returned home it is time to ask if we are ready for a Post-America President?
At US News & World Report, Paul Bedard whispers that Blackwater handled Barack Obama’s security during his trip to Afghanistan and helped in Iraq:
What’s more, Obama was overheard saying: “Blackwater is getting a bad rap.”
Did Barack Obama’s tour of Asia and Europe impress voters? By and large, no, according to a Fox Opinion Dynamics poll. A large plurality, almost a majority, saw it exclusively as a campaign event and almost three-quarters believe that it was at least in part a campaign event. Only 19% thought it was exclusively a fact-finding tour in polling completed the day before Obama took the stage in Berlin.
Barack Obama now leads John McCain among national registered voters by a 49% to 40% margin in Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted July 24-26.
McCain responds to Obama canceling his visit to Landstuhl Hospital:
In Landstuhl, Germany, when I went through, I visited the hospital. But the important thing is that, if I had been told by the Pentagon that I couldn’t visit those troops, and I was there and wanted to be there, I guarantee you, there would have been a seismic event. And so, I believe he had the opportunity to go without the media. And I’ll let the facts speak for themselves.
With Obama's triumphant return to America, in essence his return to 'dance with the one that brought ya' I present you with the Rainbow Tour from Evita!
[Peron:]
People of Europe, I send you the Rainbow of Argentina
[Che:]
Spain has fallen to the charms of Evita
She can do what she likes, it doesn't matter much
[Aide #1:]
She's our lady of the new world with a golden touch
[Aide #2:]
She filled a bull-ring, forty-five thousand seater
[Che:]
But if you're prettier than General Franco, that's not hard
[Aide #1:]
Franco's reign in Spain should see out the forties
So you've just acquired an ally who
Looks as secure in his job as you
[Aide #2:]
But more important current political thought is
Your wife's a phenomenal asset, your trump card
[Chorus:]
[Peron and Aides:]
Let's hear it for the Rainbow Tour
It's been an incredible success
We weren't quite sure, we had a few doubts
[Peron:] Will Evita win through?
[Aides:] But the answer is yes
[Peron:]
There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now?
[Che:]
Now I don't like to spoil a wonderful story
But the news from Rome isn't quite as good
She hasn't gone down like they thought she would
Italy's unconvinced by Argentine glory
They equate Peron with Mussolini, can't think why
[Eva:]
Did you hear that? They called me a whore!
They actually called me a whore!
[Italian admiral:]
But Signora Peron it's an easy mistake
I'm still called an admiral
Yet I gave up the sea long ago
[Aide #2:]
More bad news from Rome; she met with the Pope
She only got a rosary, a kindly word
[Che:]
I wouldn't say the Holy Father gave her the bird
But papal decorations, never a hope
[Aide #1:]
She still looked the part at St. Peter's, caught the eye
[chorus]
[Peron:] Will Evita win through?
[Aides:] But the answer is ...
[Che:] A qualified
[Aides:] Yes
[Che:]
Eva started well, no question, in France
Shining like a sun through the post-war haze
A beautiful reminder of the care-free days
She nearly captured the French, she sure had the chance
But she suddenly seemed to lose interest
She looked tired
[Che:]
Face the facts, the Rainbow's starting to fade
I don't think she'll make it to England now
[Aide #1:]
It wasn't on the schedule anyhow
[Che:]
You'd better get out the flags and fix a parade
Some kind of coming home in triumph is required
[chorus]
[Aide #2:] Would Evita win through?
[Aide #1:] And the answer is
[Aide #2:] Yes
[Che:] And no
[Aides:] And yes
[Che:] And no
[Aides:] And yes
[Che:] No
[chorus]
[Aides:] Would Evita win through? But the answer is
[Aide #2:] Yes
[Aide #1:] Yes
[Aide #2:] Yes
----------------------------
DKK
There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? Evita - Rainbow Tour
Today, retired Lt. Colonel Joe Repya issued the following statement on Barack Obama’s cancelled visit to Ramstein and Landstuhl: “The most solemn duty of a commander in chief is to fulfill his responsibility to the men and women who serve this country in uniform. Barack Obama had scheduled a visit with wounded American troops who have served with honor and distinction in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he broke that commitment, instead flitting from one European capital to the next. Several explanations were offered, none was convincing and each was at odds with the statements of American military leaders in Germany and Washington. For a young man so apt at playing president, Barack Obama badly misjudged the important demands of the office he seeks. Visits with world leaders and speeches to cheering Europeans shouldn’t be a substitute for comforting injured American heroes.”
I do think that’s entirely conditions-based. It’s hard to anticipate where we may be six months from now, or a year from now, or a year and a half from now.
Even as Barack sweeps through Europe some wonder about the rest of the world, "Barack Obama promised his Kenyan family members and villagers that he would assist their school but has failed to honour his pledge."
95% of base wanted nothing to do with him. I have met three troops who support him, and literally hundreds who regard him as a buffoon, a charlatan, a hindrance to their mission or a flat out enemy of progress. Even when the rumors were publicly admitted, almost no one left their duty sections to try to see him, unless they were officers whose presence was officially required.
So, how did that visit to the troops in Iraq go? Gateway Pundit
As thousands waited at the Sieges Saule monument in Berlin to hear Obama's sensational speech, a BILD reporter met Barack all alone - in the gym! Here's the incredible account of Judith Bonesky's meeting...
It's 16:02pm and I've been training in the gym of the Ritz Carlton hotel in Berlin. A man in a suit approaches me and says: "Barack Obama is about to come and train ..." Shortly after half past four and he actually arrives! Barack Obama is wearing a grey t-shirt, black tracksuit bottoms - and a great smile!
"Hi, how's it going?" asks Obama in his deep voice. My heart beats. "Very good, and you?" I say. Obama replies: "Very good, thank you!" (HT: Media Blog at NRO)
Simply orgasmic isn't he! Glad he could work out instead of visit the troops! American Thinker
In Berlin, hundreds of thousands will cheer a projection rather than a flesh-and-blood Obama on Thursday. After Inauguration Day, alas, Europe and the world will not face a Dreamworks president, but the leader of a superpower. Whether McCain or Obama, the 44th president will speak more nicely than did W. in his first term. He will also pay more attention to the "decent opinions of mankind." But he will still preside over the world's largest military, economic, and cultural power.
This vast power differential is what Germans and Europeans don't quite fathom in their infatuation with Obama. Their problem was not Mr. Bush, but Mr. Big--America as Behemoth Among the Nations, unwilling to succumb to the dictates of goodness that animate post-heroic, post-imperial, and post-sovereign Europe.
...The press certainly helped Obama get so far so fast; the question is, how far can he get if his campaign alienates them?...
...But, as Obama ascended from underdog to front-runner to presumptive nominee, the flame seems to have dwindled. Reporters who cover Obama these days grouse that Obama's flacks shroud the campaign in secrecy and provide little to no access. "They're more disciplined than the Bush people," a reporter on the Obama trail gripes...
Reported on Fox and Friends today, but not online yet. And since Redlasso has been shut by the likes of Fox News I can't show you.
Update: Here you go -- NY Times reporting some of the same sentiments as Fox.
Perhaps he read this Rasmussen poll where 63% of Americans say his trip doesn't make him more fit to be President. I think that was due to an error in judgment, he just couldn't help doing the German rally instead of just meeting the leaders of the world. It made it look just like another campaign stop (in a country that can't vote) rather then a fact finding, experience gaining trip.
In any case the differential between American growth rates and European growth rates is going to widen the divide. What can the Europeans do? Become more like Americans. In that sense his speech shows that Obama is going in the wrong direction. Americans do not want to join the European league (the phrase in America is bush league - har). He should at the very least be thinking of dragging Europe our way, rather than making efforts to drag America to theirs. That might have mitigated what will, I predict, be the downfall of the Obama campaign.
There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? Evita - Rainbow Tour
What's the use in mourning if there is no one there to see you do it (paraphrase Absolutely Fabulous):
the problem was that Obama’s request to visit Landstuhl included two members of his campaign staff — retired Major General Jonathan S. Gration and Jeff Kiernan. US military officials in Germany informed the campaign the two political operatives would not be permitted on base.
Pentagon officials say Gration was the campaign’s point of contact at Landstuhl in arranging Obama’s visit and “got torqued” when he was told he would not be permitted to join Obama. It was Gration who later suggested to reporters that the Pentagon short-circuited Obama’s visit.
Jim Geraghty wrote yesterday: “A very interesting email from a source I must protect suggests that Obama’s visit to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center had the green light until a campaign staffer raised a stink about going with Obama.”
And today Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs strongly hinted that Gration’s exclusion was what led to the campaign’s last-minute decision to scrap the visit.
“Based on the information that we received from the Pentagon,” Gibbs said, “anybody on the staff that was related to the campaign including General Gration a two start [sic] general” would not be allowed to go to Landstuhl.
Junior Ill. Senator Barack Obama is on his way to France today. By the end of this media junk-it, he will have visited several foreign countries throughout Europe and the Middle East.
I would just like to say ... oh, heck - Barack already said it better than I ever could:
It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they all speak French, they speak German, and then we go over to Europe (laughter) and all we can say is ‘Merci Beaucoup.’ (Laughter ensues) Right?!”
Ironic that about all Obama can muster up is "Merci Beaucoup" while traveling abroad.
BERLIN (AFP) — US presidential hopeful Barack Obama was due in Paris on Friday a day after telling a vast crowd of 200,000 people in Berlin that Americans and Europeans must tear down walls between estranged allies, races and faiths, in a soaring challenge to a new political generation.
200,000 . . . or 20,000? Obama's Crowd in Berlin -- looked like more then 20,000 to me, remember there was food and music after his speech!
"During the big anti-Bush demonstration after the fall of Baghdad, there were 250,000 people. And it looked totally different from yesterday. Then, you couldn't move all the way from the Brandenburg Gate to the Technical University [on the western side of Tiergarten park, another kilometer beyond the Siegessäule]."
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama met with British Prime Gordon Brown in London Saturday on the last leg of his weeklong overseas tour.
Obama waved and smiled at the media outside Brown's residence at 10 Downing Street but made no comments as he walked inside.
Brown decided not to greet the U.S. senator on the doorstep because he did not grant the same honor to Obama's rival, John McCain, when the Republican candidate visited in March.
Obama's visit in London is more low-key than the other stops on his trip. He plans no major news conferences and is expected to make his only remarks to reporters as he departs his meeting with Brown.
Earlier Saturday, Obama met with former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who now serves as the Middle East envoy for the "quartet" of the United States, European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. The two posed for the cameras at Obama's hotel but made no statements.
Obama also plans a meeting with British opposition leader David Cameron, head of the Conservative Party, following the talks with Brown.
No one doubts that our partners in the coalitions in both Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered losses on the battlefield, and of course every loss is tragic. However, Barack Obama tells NBC’s Brian Williams that Americans have ignored the “serious losses” that NATO allies have taken in Afghanistan, scolding us for our lack of appreciation for their effort. Unfortunately, this dumbs down the definition of serious to such a degree that our losses look positively catastrophic.
"Ten years after peace was declared in Northern Ireland, one might have expected that Belfast's barriers would be torn down by now. But reality, as usual, is far messier. Not one has been dismantled. Instead they've grown in both size and number."
Among many curious moments in Barack Obama's speech in Berlin on Thursday, this line takes Gorean liberties with the facts:
As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.
"As we speak"? You have to love the royal "we."
In any case, as we write, Barack Obama is just wrong. Sea levels have been declining, not rising, for the last two years.
“If the real Messiah came back to the Holy Land, the coverage couldn’t be any more thorough, and it probably would be a good deal less adoring.” — Kevin O’Brien, the Plain Dealer.
Israelis know in their kishkahs that Obama isn't here for Israelis. Obama is here for the American Jewish vote. The rank and file Israeli knows that Obama is an outsider here as well as there. There is no connection. There is only coldness and calculation. The AP picture of Obama with Olmert in the Jerusalem Post was a joke--the Two Yo-Yo's, a good buddy called it. Obama isn't even attempting to look at Olmert.
There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? Evita - Rainbow Tour
"Just Hours After Obama's " Non-Political" Political Rally in Germany, His Campaign Finance Director Sends Out Solicitations for Donations, Citing His Non-Political Political Rally"
Are Obama's heavy handed actions causing an End of the Affair with the media?
To say that Europeans are fond of Barack Obama would be an understatement. It seems that he has reached the same level of adulation and worship as he has in the United States. So when asked who Europeans would prefer to see elected as the next US president, it is no surprise that citizens of France, Germany and the UK all chose Barack Obama ... by a landslide. In the UK, Obama was favored 60-15. In France, 64-4. And in Germany, they chose Barack Obama by a margin of 62-10 over John McCain. Frankly, I'm surprised that the numbers were this low.
Now if it were up to people like Barack Obama, the opinions of these foreign countries would matter. Remember Obama's thermostat comment ... "We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK." What does it matter what other countries think about our habits? In fact, what business is it of our president? But the Europeans sure can't wait for this guy to be in power.
Now here's something that you won't hear from any of the networks when it comes to analyzing the European infatuation over Obama. Several months ago the Pew Research Center did some polling in Europe. That polling showed that 58 percent of Europeans want the United States to be weakened. They want a weaker America. Oddly, that 58 percent figure is pretty close to the margin for Obama. So how are you going to feel about European attitudes about our presidential election if you walk up to someone on the street and have this dialogue:
"Would you like the United States to be weaker or stronger."
"Weaker."
"Who do you support, then, for president?"
"Barack Obama"
Does anyone care to look into the motives behind this European love affair with The Messiah?
++ Paris Left Cold by Obama Visit ++
3:30 p.m.: While Obama’s Berlin visit has caused a stir, hardly anyone is interested in his trip to Paris on Friday. There are hardly any French media reports on the eve of his visit. There is merely some grumbling about the extensive itinerary for his trip to Berlin. “A speech in Berlin, five little hours in Paris,” writes French dailyLe Monde.
Fox News poll: No bounce for Obama from trip, Maliki comments Conducted Tuesday and Wednesday, three days after Maliki’s Spiegel interview dropped ... Head to head: Obama 41, McCain 40. On handling Iraq: McCain 47, Obama 39, a two-point gain since June. Maybe Obama’s position on the surge is starting to penetrate? There’s circumstantial evidence in the crosstabs. A quarter of independents and 15% of Democrats perceive “major improvements” in Iraq from the surge; many more see “minor improvements.” The fact that Obama’s popular with Europeans likewise is a wash. Democrats see it as positive, Republicans negative, and indies are split 26/25 — although people calling themselves “independents” these days are apt to include more disaffected Republicans so weigh that accordingly.
"Uh, it's a potentially bad thing if nobody shows up," Obama said, laughing. "You know, we're sort of on the high wire all of the sudden. It's like, 'I'm sorry, how many people does this accommodate? How many?'...We really have no idea what's going to happen. Sort of a crapshoot. I'm happy with the speech though."
A reporter noted that the campaign has been distributing fliers to Berliners to drum up attendance.
"Why don't you guys go out and distribute some fliers?" Obama asked. "Is that a conflict for you guys?"
Joked a cable news correspondent: "We have been. It's called television."
Reporters who have covered Obama’s biography or his problems with certain voter blocs have been challenged the most aggressively. “They’re terrified of people poking around Obama’s life,” one reporter says. “The whole Obama narrative is built around this narrative that Obama and David Axelrod built, and, like all stories, it’s not entirely true. So they have to be protective of the crown jewels.” Another reporter notes that, during the last year, Obama’s old friends and Harvard classmates were requested not to talk to the press without permission.
Yes, Obama, they worked together because they feared Soviet tanks. They got together because of Truman, who suffered the lowest popularity of any sitting president. They got together because they knew war would come if they redeployed U.S. troops. They got together despite how they could have used the money to pay for infrastructure back home.
They got together because the only other option was to surrender separately.
Germany could no more stand on its own in 1948 than Iraq can in 2008 — something that Obama wanted to do.
If anyone should look at Berlin, it is Democratic Sen. Barack Obama Jr.
Before adoring throngs in Berlin and the entire world's media, Barack Obama stated that "many planes were forced to turn back" from the Berlin Airlift because of the bad weather. Great imagery, but contrafactual.
Obama should have read my book before making his claim about the Berlin Airlift. Barely a handful of the nearly 28,000 flights "turned back" in the face ir the cruel winter of 1948-1949.
Obama obviously has limited knowledge of the Airlift, and automatically assumes that the USAF would send up aircraft in prohibitively dangerous weather (it didn't) and that, once up, large numbers of pilots aborted their missions.
Ironically, just last month I contributed to an article in the German pub Flugzeug Classic on the US aircraft that went down in the Soviet Zone.
WOLF BLITZER: Did you get a sense, Christiane, that he actually delivered with his presentation, with his speech, his appearance in Berlin? Did people walk away seemingly satisfied or disappointed?
AMANPOUR: Well, I don’t think they were disappointed, and I’m not sure that they were thoroughly satisfied. I did ask some people as they were leaving what they thought. Everybody said good, good. But I was surprised that there wasn’t this sort of euphoria afterwards, given how many people had come to listen and how much it had been anticipated.
One military official who was working on the Obama visit said because political candidates are prohibited from using military installations as campaign backdrops, Obama’s representatives were told, “he could only bring two or three of his Senate staff member, no campaign officials or workers.” In addition,
“Obama could not bring any media. Only military photographers would be permitted to record Obama’s visit.”
"If someone was to fire at my house, where my two daughters sleep, I would do everything within my power to stop him and I expect Israel to do the same," he said.
SS DOUTHAT: "Yes, of course the Hitler comparisons are absurd, but I'd really like to know which genius on the Obama campaign thought it would be a good idea to have their candidate conduct a major campaign rally in Europe with three months to go till the election and their candidate, despite an incredibly favorable climate and a fumbling opponent, still clinging to a 2-4 point lead in the polls?"
Now it's on to Paris, London, then home -- wonder if they'll throw a parade when he gets back?
DKK
There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? Evita - Rainbow Tour
"Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran, as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don't obtain a nuclear weapon."
Barack Obama
Sderot, Israel July 23, 2008
But, there's a problem with this latest Obama statement.
He's not a member of this senate committee.
OBAMA VISITS WESTERN WALL IN OLD CITY JERUSALEM... ARRIVES AT 5:08 AM LOCAL TIME [10:08 PM ET]... SUNRISE... SHOUTING MAN: 'JERUSALEM IS NOT FOR SALE, OBAMA'... MOB SCENE... CHAOS... BOWING HIS HEAD IN PRAYER... PLACES NOTE IN WALL... POSES FOR PHOTOS... LOTS OF SHOUTING... LEAVES 5:20 AM... DEVELOPING..
CNN European Political Editor Robin Oakley said Obama enjoyed widespread popularity in Europe.
"He is somehow one of those politicians who reaches other parts other politicians don't reach," said Oakley. "After the unpopularity of George W. Bush, the world is waiting to love America again and they see in Obama, with his youth and his optimism, somebody who can bring that about."
But Oakley said Obama also needed to prove to Americans as well that he could defend U.S. interests abroad. Republican rival John McCain's campaign team has frequently criticized Obama as being inexperienced on foreign policy and a recent poll suggested just 48 percent of Americans thought he would make a good commander in chief, compared to 72 percent for McCain.
Now picture this. A man with some community organizing experience and 142 whole days in the United States Senate (before he switched into campaign mode, that is) meets with the U.S. Commander in Iraq. After General Petraeus tells Obama that a timetable for withdrawal would be wrong – that withdrawal should be based on conditions and results, not a calendar. So what does Our Savior do after his meeting? Well, he basically says that Petraeus is wrong and he is right and that as commander in chief a timetable it will be.
Question: Can anyone name a war that the United States has won that was fought on a timetable? Just wondering.
One more little oddity yesterday. Reporters had to repeatedly remind Obama staffers that he was not, in fact, the president of the United States. In response to questions Obama staffers repeatedly acted as if they were speaking for a president rather than a candidate. How sure are they of victory in November? Try 100 percent.
This is pretty extraordinary. A candidate for the American Presidency is using flyers printed in German to turn people out for his campaign rally in Berlin on Thursday. This flyer can be found on a bilingual page on BarackObama.com advertising the event … The German flyers bear Obama’s campaign logo and say “Paid for by Obama for America.” …
So, this isn’t just some sober, high-minded foreign policy speech, part of a foreign trip occurring under the auspices of his official Senate office. It is a campaign rally occuring on foreign soil. They are using the same tactics to turn out Germans to an event as they would to any rally right here in America.
In this city where John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton all made famous speeches, Obama will find himself stepping into perhaps another iconic moment Thursday as his superstar charisma meets German adoration live in shadows of the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. He then travels to Paris and London where he can expect to be greeted with similar adulation.
It’s not only Obama’s youth, eloquence and energy that have stolen hearts across the Atlantic. For Europeans, there have always been two Americas: one of cynicism, big business and bullying aggression, another of freedom, fairness and nothing-is-impossible dynamism.
If President Bush has been seen as the embodiment of that first America, Obama has raised expectations of a chance for the nation to redeem itself in the role that — at various times through history — Europe has loved, respected and relied upon.
An Israeli journalist called out to Obama: “Can you ensure that there will be no second Holocaust?”
Obama walked into the museum’s main building without responding...
Once again an Israeli journalist asked the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee how he’d help prevent a second Holocaust. "Senator can you assure Israel that there will be no second Holocaust despite Iran's threat to wipe us off the map?" he asked.
Obama demurred, saying that it wasn't appropriate to answer the question there.
"This is Yad Vashem!" the journalist responded.
Obama said he would answer the question at a later press availability.
There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? Evita - Rainbow Tour
"Let me be absolutely clear," Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said today at a press conference in Amman, Jordan. "Israel is a strong friend of Israel's. It will be a strong friend of Israel's under a McCain...administration. It will be a strong friend of Israel's under an Obama administration. So that policy is not going to change."
At a morning background briefing, reporters parried with senior advisers on the characterization of Obama’s speech Thursday in Berlin as a campaign rally. The outdoor speech at the Victory Column could draw thousands of people, similar to the size of Obama events in the United States.
"It is not going to be a political speech," said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. "When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally."
"But he is not president of the United States," a reporter reminded the adviser.
MITCHELL: Let me just say something about the message management. He didn't have reporters with him, he didn't have a press pool, he didn't do a press conference while he was on the ground in either Afghanistan or Iraq. What you're seeing is not reporters brought in. You're seeing selected pictures taken by the military, questions by the military, and what some would call fake interviews, because they're not interviews from a journalist. So, there's a real press issue here. Politically it's smart as can be. But we've not seen a presidential candidate do this, in my recollection, ever before. (...)
MITCHELL: I can't really say that. Being a reporter who was not present in any of those situations, I just cannot report on what was edited out, what was, you know, on the sidelines. That's my issue. We don't know what we are seeing.
Barack Obama’s campaign trip abroad was thought to be an effort to show him operating freely on the world stage. Instead, it has been a carefully managed exercise, designed to expose Obama to no contrary or potentially embarrassing viewpoints, and most of all, to shield him against the possibility that the media might capture a gaffe. . . . For all intents and purposes Obama was play-acting the role of a traveling statesman, eating meals and smiling but doing and saying nothing of consequence with what veteran network correspondent Mitchell described on “Hardball” as an unprecedented level of press restriction and manipulation.
David Gergen: “I think it was the first — Barack Obama made the first mistake of his trip, in my judgment, in releasing a statement in which he said exactly what Maliki had said in those conversations. We have a long tradition in this country that we only have one president at a time. He’s the commander in chief and the negotiator in chief. I cannot remember a campaign which a rival seeking the presidency has been in a position negotiating a war that’s under way with another party outside the country. I think he leaves himself open to the charge tonight that he’s meddling, that this is not his role, that he can be the critic, but he’s not the negotiator. We have a president who does that. So, I think the underlying facts support him, but I think it would be a real mistake — and I think it was a mistake — to get into these conversations and let it be used politically.”
CNN’s Anderson Cooper: “That’s interesting. Gloria, do you think this is the first mistake he made on this trip?”
Gloria Borger: “You know, it’s very interesting, I do agree with David. And Candy, in her earlier piece, talked about walking the fine line between being this candidate and being presumptuous. And I think that he may just have crossed that, because, you know, it is a tradition. You don’t talk about these private conversations. And it’s not up to Barack Obama right now to negotiate troop withdrawals. It’s up to Barack Obama to be on a fact-finding mission, which is indeed what he has said he was on.”
Today, the Gallup Obama boomlet is gone (lead down to 3) and Rasmussen is a tie.
Then throw in some decent state poll numbers for McCain: plus 10 in Ohio (Rasmussen), plus 11 in Georgia (Rasmussen) down 2 in Michigan (EPIC), down 3 in New Hamsphire (UNH) , and down 3 in Colorado (Rasmussen), and the race looks close and winnable for McCain (let's not get too excited, however -- we are still 15 weeks out).
Why did the Obama bump after Hilary Clinton dropped out fade over the past month? Why is Obama not getting a bump now from the media over exposure on his foreign tour (free advertising, in essence)?
The answer I think is that more and more Americans are realizing that a giant media sell job is underway, and many don't like it. Obama may be a rock star, but would he make a good President?
Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday toured the Jordanian capital of Amman, where the much talked about "Obama-mania" is not that easy to find.
Just 22 percent of Jordanians who are following the U.S. presidential election have confidence in Obama, according to a recent survey from the Pew Research Center.
And in the nearby countries of Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey, Obama also gets negative reviews.
Obama still fares better than John McCain in those countries, but in Jordan the two candidates are about equal.
But the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate is revered as a superstar in other parts of the world.
There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? Evita - Rainbow Tour
He’s popular in part because they don’t believe him.
It quoted Munadhil al-Mayyahi, an independent politician in Basra: “What Obama said about pulling out U.S. forces is just for political gains. It is unrealistic.”
This story was filed after the more pro-Obama story that Reuters killed.
“Who is Mr. Obama?” asked Muhammad Saed, 29, who owns a small supermarket in Baghdad. “I stopped reading the news after the invasion because it only talks about car bombs and people being killed.”
Sounds like we share something in common with Iraqis after all.
Barack Obama will do the unthinkable in London this week.
Obama will hold a press conference outside Downing Street... alone.
He does not want Prime Minister Gordon Brown with him.
The unpopular Prime Minister might spoil it.
Lest there be any illusions about the desired target audience for Obama’s trip, the foreign media, including the BBC, have been left on the Tarmac. Only American reporters are on board “Obama One” as his plane heads from one country to the next.
He will have a 45-minute meeting on Saturday morning with Gordon Brown followed by a press conference, which Obama will conduct on his own outside Downing Street in a blatant departure from the usual protocol.
There will be no Brown at his side to spoil the No 10 backdrop for American voters, even though it would be unthinkable for a British prime minister to appear in the White House Rose Garden without the president.
Brown will say a few words later in the day, once Obama has gone.
As you watch the mania being beamed back from Europe, I ask you to remember one important thing. Not too many months ago the Pew Research Center – and these are people with great expertise in European polling – said that 58% of all Europeans want to see the United States weakened. Now think about that for a minute. Do you want the United States to be weakened? It's not surprising that Europeans might want that. After all, a weaker United States might well mean a stronger Europe in international affairs and economic influence. That might be great for Europe, and we can understand Europeans wanting to bring this about. But when these Europeans start falling all over themselves during the Obama 2008 tour, try to remember what their goals really are. Are they slobbering all over Obama because they think he will be a wonderful and powerful world leader, or because they think that Barack Obama is the means to their desired end ... a weakened America.
Can it be that the future of this country is going to depend on millions of voters snapping out of it – escaping the cult – and actually sitting back for a little session of sober thought on the choices at hand?
The Barack Obama campaign wanted to make sure that the reporters traveling along with the presidential candidate on his foreign tour presented themselves properly. His staff distributed a memo that dictated a dress code, reminding the women in the media entourage of the need to keep from offending the natives.
There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? Evita - Rainbow Tour
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was in Iraq on Monday for talks with local leaders and US commanders, after pledging to pull out US troops in 16 months if he takes over the White House next year.
He will meet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and senior US military commanders, Iraqi and US officials said.
"Senator Barack Obama arrived in Iraq this morning as part of a Congressional delegation, along with Senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel," embassy spokesman Armand Cucciniello said.
...
Obama's camp has said the aim of his tour is to make an on-the-ground assessment of the war in Iraq and to meet the country's leaders, whom he has criticised for not doing enough to rebuild their country.
"Iraq's leaders have failed to invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the (US troop) surge," Obama wrote on July 14 in The New York Times.
Obama also confirmed his pledge to declare an end to the Iraq war from the first day of his presidency if he wins in November, and to withdraw most US combat troops within 16 months.
Residents of Baghdad's Sadr City, the stronghold of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, were sceptical of Obama's plans.
"This proclamation is a mere political stunt," said Abu Ali, 43. "The American policy would not change with the change in the president, especially the military policy which is planned by far-sighted commanders."
Wait, did this guy just call Evi, er um, Obama short sighted? Even Abu gets it!
There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? Evita - Rainbow Tour
Barack Obama begins his much hyped overseas trip today. There hasn't been a trip this widely anticipated and hyped since Eva Peron wowed, if not the people of Europe then certainly the people of Argentina.
US Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama has arrived in Afghanistan, at the start of a high-profile international tour. BBC News
I'm sure that the Obama camp is hoping for great results here at home, and he shouldn't have too hard a time achieving that goal with the fawning press coverage he is almost certain to garner.
However he has to be extremely cautious as there are many who will question why a presidential candidate is campaigning in Europe. The fact finding in Iraq and Afghanistan are a different story.
There is a very real danger that the sight of huge crowds of Europeans fawning and fainting over the candidate could backfire. There will be little campaign control over the coverage of the events and Obama and the very supportive media could easily become too exuberant and play to the crowd to the detriment of his national standing. Most Americans still believe in nationalism versus internationalism despite the outdated and exageraged press coverage of how damaged our image has become overseas.
I fully expect his prepared remarks to reinforce a kinder brand of nationalism that seems to encompass the world, but his off the cuff remarks and those crowd shots could give ammunition to McCain if used to emphasize American interests versus the interests of Europe.
DKK
