May 22, 2012
FSM HOT TOPICS
Exclusive: Tuesday, July 22
by PRESIDENTIAL WATCH July 22, 2008
Obama's Magical Mystery Tour
Nancy Morga, RightBias.com
As the media-anointed President in waiting, Obama is virtually guaranteed superstar non-stop media coverage as he makes his taxpayer financed 'fact finding' tour this week. Joining him on this excellent adventure are all three of the major network anchors who will cover his every step, endlessly. The world anxiously awaits.
Obama's visit to Iraq is ostensibly to assess the situation on the ground in order to lend credibility to his already formed opinion of the war in Iraq. In a masterful political move, somewhat akin to inspecting the barn after the horses have already escaped, Barack, with perfect 20/20 hindsight will most likely opine that yes, the surge seemed to have helped matters abit. He will then segueway into his firm, absolutely firm view, which, by the way, he has held for over 4 months, that now is the time to start bringing troops home.
Perky Katy Couric, with the appropriate oohs and aahs, will then proclaim to the world how utterly prescient and, well, presidential Obama is to have suggested the solution to the vexing Iraq problem way before any of the experts did. The only question remaining is how many times perky Katy will flip her hair as she gazes coyly up at Obama through lowered eyelashes. Read article.
The Audacity of Ego
Joan Vennochi, Boston.com
Just like the Obama girl, Obama has a crush on Obama.
Barack Obama always was a larger-than-life candidate with a healthy ego. Now he's turning into the A-Rod of politics. It's all about him.
He's giving his opponent something other than issues to attack him on: narcissism.
A convention hall isn't good enough for the presumptive Democratic nominee. He plans to deliver his acceptance speech in the 75,000 seat stadium where the Denver Broncos play. Before a vote is cast, he's embarking on a foreign policy tour that will use cheering Europeans - and America's top news anchors - as extras in his campaign. What do you expect from a candidate who already auditioned a quasi-presidential seal with the Latin inscription, "Vero possumus" - "Yes, we can"?
Obama finds criticism of his wife "infuriating" and doesn't want either of them to be the target of satire. Tell that to the Carters, the Reagans, the Clintons, and the Bushes, father and son. Read article.
Obama's Iraq Spotlight
Robert D. Novak, Townhall.com
I asked one of the Republican Party's smartest, most candid heavy hitters this week whether John McCain really has a chance to defeat Barack Obama in this season of Republican discontent. "No, if the campaign is about McCain," he replied. "Yes, if it's about Obama." That underlines the importance of Obama's visit to Iraq, beginning weeks of scrutiny for the Democratic presidential candidate under a GOP spotlight.
Four years ago nearly to the day, I asked the same question to the same Republican leader about George W. Bush and John Kerry, and he gave the same answer. He proved prophetic because Bush's campaign made Kerry the issue, and the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate flunked the test.
Obama is a far more interesting personality and an incomparably more appealing candidate than Kerry. But why then, in a year where the nation clearly has rejected the GOP as a party, does McCain have a real chance to be elected? Why does Obama have trouble breaking the 50 percent barrier, nationally and in battleground states?
The answer, as seen by McCain's closest associates, is the issue they hope to ride to victory: leadership. They believe voters are hesitant to fully accept this charismatic newcomer because of doubt as to whether he can lead the nation. Now, in visiting Iraq for the first time in two and a half years, Obama tests that issue. In what on the surface looms as a public relations coup for Obama, the McCain camp will be scrutinizing -- and commenting on -- his every move in Iraq. Read article.
Europe Has an Economics Lesson for Obama
Henry Olsen, Online WSJ.com
Democratic activists and European intellectuals are ecstatic about Barack Obama's trip to Europe. Europeans see a man they hope will win the presidency (a recent poll found 72% of Germans backing Sen. Obama). U.S. Democratic activists see their nominee gaining the experience of a continent whose policies -- more pacifist, statist and secular than America's -- they would prefer to emulate. Both sets of people hope Mr. Obama will be influenced by what he sees and emerge a man whose message of change will be informed by stereotypical European aspirations and experiences.
But the Europe Mr. Obama will visit is quite different from the one Americans often hear about. Over the last decade, much of Europe has very quietly embraced market-based reforms that either draw inspiration from American successes or -- on issues like retirement security -- are even more market-oriented than many U.S. Republicans support.
The cutting of corporate income- tax rates is an excellent example of European market-friendly bipartisanship. Germany's right-left coalition of Christian and Social Democrats implemented a large rate cut earlier this year, reducing the top marginal corporate rate to about 30% from 39%. Spain's Socialist and Britain's Labor governments have followed suit, reducing their countries' top corporate rates. Read article.
The Europhiles are not the future, Mr Obama
William Rees-Mogg, Times Online.co.uk
Unexpected upsets happen in elections. No US presidential election becomes a certainty until the Electoral College has voted. But the McCain campaign, though refreshingly decent and rational, has attracted little attention. Americans admire John McCain as a war hero, but that is not enough. He seems cast to play the role of Pompey to Obama's Julius Caesar. The Fates, having taken their decision, are reluctant to change the cast list.
That makes Mr Obama's visit to the Middle East, Afghanistan and Europe particularly important. He is being treated as virtually the President-elect. He will inevitably form first impressions that may remain with him in his years of power. There will be foreign statesmen who impress him, and others who do not. He will make his own judgment of the prospect of success in Afghanistan and Iraq. He will better understand that the problems of the Middle East and Europe are more complex than they had seemed in the briefing rooms of Washington.
Most US Presidents start with a preconception about Europe. They usually share the common American view that Europe is destined to follow American constitutional development, and will become the United States of Europe. Read article.
Europe's governments immune to Obama-fever
Noah Barkinm Reuters.com
European fans will cheer on U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama as he visits Berlin, Paris and London this week, but governments wary of his inexperience and evolving policies fear the euphoria is overdone.
Largely an unknown quantity in Europe, the Democratic contender is due to land here on Thursday, kicking off the second part of a foreign tour that began in the Middle East with a speech on trans-Atlantic relations in the German capital.
His appearance at the "Victory Column" in Berlin's central Tiergarten park is expected to draw huge crowds and is being likened in advance to former president John F. Kennedy's celebrated "Ich bin ein Berliner" performance of 1963.
But in the German Chancellery a few hundred meters away there is unease with the Illinois senator's cult-like following and skepticism about whether he can live up to the hype. Read article.
More Iraqi Ironies: Our short memories
Victor Davis Hanson, NRO.com
There is by now only one constant in the entire sad Iraqi saga since the brilliant three-week victory of 2003, and the subsequent violent reconstruction that followed. In our collective exasperation almost all the bad news from the front is due to someone else’s stupidity; any good reports are always the result of one’s own insight and sobriety. The result is irony, but also amnesia about what was written and said in the recent past.
In 2003, as a state legislator, Barack Obama opposed the war. In 2004, as a state legislator, Obama said, “There’s not much of a difference between my position on Iraq and George Bush’s position at this stage.” In 2007, Sen.Obama said his desired pullback would lead to all U.S. troops gone from Iraq by March 2008. In spring 2008, he said his timetable of withdrawal would lead to all U.S. troops home within 16 months.
In July 2008, he said his desired withdrawal would now be predicated on events on the ground and the recommendations of ground commanders in Iraq. In fall 2008, I suggest, candidate Obama will add that due to his consistent criticism we properly changed our policy in Iraq and found success, and so he would now be as careful in withdrawing troops according to military advice, as others who put them there were reckless in ignoring it. Read article.
Obama Wraps Up the Bush Status Quo in Pompous Clichés
Robert Tracinski, RCP.com
I am quickly coming to the conclusion that all there has ever been to Barack Obama is symbolism and grandiloquent speeches. There is the symbolism of him as the (potential) first black president. And there is his ability to give portentous speeches in high-flown Harvard rhetoric, perfectly pitched to sound thoughtful to college-educated liberals--without actually saying anything.
And here we go again, with another one of Obama's patented Big Speeches, this time on Iraq. It is pitched to sound sincere and intellectual, and to sell us on his allegedly superior foreign-policy judgment--so long as we drift through it and don't start asking any questions.
The speech has two purposes. One is to artfully evade Obama's massive misjudgment of the "surge," which he unequivocally opposed.
Here's a tip. When Obama begins a sentence with "As I have said many times," this means that he is about to announce a totally new position that contradicts everything he has said before. Read article.
Disillusioned about Barack Obama
Nat Hentoff, Sacbee.com
During my more than 60 years of covering national politics, I have never seen a candidate's principles and character so effectively tarnished — after so extraordinarily inspiring a start — as Barack Obama's. He has come to resemble another mellifluous orator I came to know in Boston during my first time reporting on a campaign — James Michael Curley, the skilful prestidigitator whom Spencer Tracy masterfully played in the movie "The Last Hurrah."
Obama's deflation has not been due to ruthless opposition research by John McCain's team but by the "change" candidate himself. Like millions of Americans, I, for a time, was buoyed by not only the real-time prospect of our first black president but much more by the likelihood that Obama would pierce the dense hypocrisy and insatiable power-grabbing of current American politics.
Also, as a former teacher of constitutional law, Obama gave me "hope I could believe in" that he would rescue the Constitution's separation of powers, resuscitate the Bill of Rights and begin to restore our reputation around the world as a truly law-abiding nation.
Savoring the high expectations he had secured among so many Americans, Obama has decided he can also come closer to securing the Oval Office by softening his starlight enough to change some of his principles toward the calming center of our stormy political waters. Read article.
McCain Challenges Obama to See Success of Surge in Iraq
Terry Moran, ABC News.com
Sen. Barack Obama touched down in Iraq on Monday and was soon secluded in a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told "Good Morning America" that he was glad Obama was in Iraq and insisted the trip will give his Democratic rival an opportunity to see the success of the surge strategy.
"He'll be able to have the opportunity to see the success of the surge. It is a success. This is the same strategy that he voted against, railed against," McCain told ABC News' Diane Sawyer.
"He should admit he was wrong about the surge," McCain later added.
Obama is seeing a vastly different Iraq than the one he saw when he last visited more than two years ago. Violence and American casualties are way down and the streets of Baghdad are bustling again.
So far this month, five U.S. troops have been killed in combat, compared with 78 U.S. deaths last July. Attacks across the country are down more than 80 percent. Read article.
Big Speeches, Few Answers
Richard H. Collins, Townhall.com
Barack Obama is running on a platform of Hope and Change™ but the only clear change seems to be in his policy positions. And the angry liberal base of the Democratic Party is left with the ironic hope that Obama is just doing what it takes to get elected. They have been wincing as the once unapologetic liberal attempts to morph into a safe and moderate centrist reversing himself on municipal gun bans, the death penalty, welfare reform, NAFTA, meeting with dictators, intelligence surveillance laws, and even his commitment to withdrawing troops from Iraq.
To the consternation of the Obama camp, however, the media have rediscovered their natural cynicism toward politicians who shift positions for electoral gain. Words like slippery, evasive, inconsistent, and even flip-flop have surfaced. When criticisms mounted surrounding his changing positions on Iraq it became clear it was time for Obama’s reflexive response to a buildup of bad press: a big speech.
In his speeches Obama often touts his faith in the wisdom of the American people. But his actions in this campaign indicate that what he is really counting on is their short term memory.
This may be a successful short term electoral strategy, but it is a shallow and dangerous one in the long term. Read article.
What Kind of Leader Would McCain or Obama Be?
David Gergen & Andy Zelleke, CS Monitor.com
For the past 18 months, the country has enjoyed one of the most exciting presidential races in history, and naturally enough we have been asking: Who will win? But with troubles deepening here and abroad, the question increasingly becomes: Can the winner govern effectively?
In most recent elections, voters have gone to the polls with only a hazy idea of whether the man they are voting for will be an effective leader once in office. As Joe Klein argues in his recent book, "Politics Lost," the coming of television and the reliance upon primaries as a means of selecting a nominee have led journalists to focus more and more on the horse race: who is up, who is down, and who has raised the most money. Lost to sight has been "a sober assessment of character and leadership ability."
Sometimes we have gambled and won: Whatever you thought of his politics and his career as an actor, Ronald Reagan turned out to be a highly effective leader. But too often we have gambled and been unhappy: George W. Bush had that "Marlboro Man" look of a good president – and he had all the right pedigrees – but less than a third of the population is now happy with the results. Read article.
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The #twittergulag saga continues: @gopfirecracker suspended, others still trapped
May 21, 2012 11:54 PM
#freegopfirecracker #freegopfirecracker #freegopfirecracker #freegopfirecracker— Dale Holt (@DaleHolt8) May 22, 2012 Come on conservatives! Everyone rallied around @ChrisLoesch when he was suspended! Now its @gopfirecracker so stand up! #freegopfirecracker— Schmoop (@RGSchmoop) May 22, 2012 Hey @twitter and @support – #FreeGOPfirecracker's account has been suspended. Please fix this mishap. Thank you.— Gabriella Hoffman (@Gabby_Hoffman) May 22, 2012 [...]
Cory Booker tweets #IStandWithObama; Hashtag hijackers flood the zone
May 21, 2012 11:39 PM
Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, the Democrat who defended Bain from the Obama campaign's attacks yesterday morning, has been backpedaling more furiously than a clown on a high wire. Tonight, in an effort to mollify his critics on the Left, he posted four tweets that included the hashtag #IStandWithObama. Conservatives immediately took over the #IStandWithObama hashtag to mock President Obama, and within an hour it became a trending topic.
Cory Booker tries to clear up his position on Bain attacks
May 21, 2012 10:25 PM
Cory Booker continued his quest to run screaming away from the apparently too candid comments he made on Meet the Press on Sunday. Despite attempts earlier today to #FreeCoryBooker from those trying to force him to apologize Booker went on the Rachel Maddow show to do everything he could to walk back what he said. Que the mockery.
Obama's 'When you're president' picture spawns hashtag
May 21, 2012 09:59 PM
"When you're president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot." -Barack Obama
Cue #WhenYouArePresident
Obama takes anti-Romney rant to Twitter
May 21, 2012 09:49 PM
It started off this morning with a video of a woman named Valerie from Indiana posted by Barack Obama’s official Twitter account. 12 hours, 12 tweets and a failed hashtag later, Obama’s reelection team took the day to tweet ongoing misinformation about Mitt Romney’s record in the private sector, specifically Bain Capital’s work with the [...]
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