Obama does Europe, the Middle East; the republicans do a slow burn
By
Max J. Castro Read Spanish Version
majcastro@gmail.com
If
he walked on water they would say he was scared to jump in and swim.
Barack
Obama hit a home run with the bases loaded with his tour of Europe
and the Middle East. He met with generals, soldiers, and the leaders
of Iraq and Afghanistan. He navigated flawlessly through the
minefield that is the Palestinian/Israeli situation, drew a crowd of
hundreds of thousands in Berlin, and practically walked away with the
endorsement of the conservative leader of France and the endorsement
of the Iraqi Prime Minister for his 16-month timetable for U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq.
That
Obama’s tour de force gave the Republicans fits can be seen in the
vicious, hysterical attacks they launched against him to try to
distract attention and tarnish the success of the trip. McCain said
Obama would choose to win an election even at the cost of losing a
war. His campaign claimed that Obama did not visit wounded American
soldiers in Germany because he preferred to go to the gym. In fact,
the visit with the wounded troops was cancelled in order to avoid the
appearance of exploiting the event for political gain. Had Obama made
the visit, right-wingers would have attacked him for political
opportunism.
The
press came in for some of the ugliest attacks. Tony Blankley, a
conservative pundit and former editor of the right-wing Washington
Times, took
the cake. On National Public Radio’s Diane Rehm show, Blankley
compared the treatment the media gave Obama on his tour to oral sex.
McCain
has been the darling of the mainstream media for a long time. Now he
couldn’t stand to see Obama steal the spotlight, and his comments
came across as sour grapes. The media came not out of favoritism but
because Obama invited them, because he is a rock star politician, and
because the tour was excellently planned. For Obama, the trip was a
high-wire act without a net. McCain can make any number of mistakes
and they will be quickly forgotten; the slightest gaffe by Obama on
this tour would have been endlessly reported and blown out of
proportion.
Perhaps
the most important thing that this trip proved is that the world is
not awash in anti-Americanism; it is fed up with the arrogance.
The
American people have a very clear choice now. Do they have “a
decent respect to the opinions of mankind” as did the Founders? Do
they value the esteem and respect of the world? Or, with a McCain who
is to the right of Bush on foreign affairs, do they want four more
years of hubris and aggression?
