An "Old Gray Lady" Obama-Rama Sneak Attack

As we romped on the beaches of Lobsterville, Aquinnah and Squibnocket (public after 5 PM) last week, I must confess that I missed Barack Obama’s Berlin speech, which is my loss I know (though I was able to browse over BoBo’s hit job on it in the New York Times last week…if you choose to subject yourself to it, please do so from here).

And in case you missed out on it, Mark Leibovich (who wrote a tremendous article on Tweety noted here) joined in the Obama-bashing fun yesterday also, comparing the imagery of the presumptive Dem nominee’s overseas travels to that of “Senator Honor And Virtue” here…

The journeys provided a roving platform for the candidates to mimic the “official” conventions of a commander in chief. Mr. Obama set forth on his European and Middle Eastern tour accompanied by 12 foreign policy advisers and a virtual army of men wearing earpieces that approached presidential levels. He was ferried through the streets of Amman, Jordan, in a 20-car motorcade.

While the McCain entourage pales compared with that of his rival — as does his Boeing 737 next to Mr. Obama’s 757 — his trips still convey an unmistakably presidential vibe.

No word on whether or not Obama rewards members of the press who provide favorable coverage with special access, as McBush does (here), or whether or not the Illinois senator would even consider the military accompaniment of the Repug nominee as the latter “strolled” through a Baghdad market here.

But what really got me about Leibovich’s column was this…

Mr. Obama’s trip was mostly judged a success — he made no embarrassing missteps — which was particularly important to his candidacy because polls have shown that he has the greater burden in persuading voters that he is ready for the presidency. He needs “to plant in peoples’ minds the visual image of him sitting in the White House,” said Mike McCurry, a former spokesman for President Bill Clinton.

First of all, I cannot fathom at this point why any Democratic politician or operative of one type or another would take Mike McCurry seriously at this point (though the media is another story, I know). All he does is lend what little gravitas he has to the Repug-favored story line of the day, to say nothing of his odious opposition to Net Neutrality.

Second (and this is a familiar refrain, I know), what possible evidence does either he or Leibovich have to substantiate the charge that Obama has a “greater burden in persuading voters that he is ready for the presidency”?

Well, whatever it is that Obama is doing, it must be succeeding so far to indicate a result like this; we have miles to go in this contest, however, and we can only look forward to more of this nonsense to perpetuate the “horserace” so fervently desired by our corporate media cousins.

Update: And by the way, Senator McBush is at it again with the gaffes, as noted here (and of course, he was against Barack Obama's 16-month timetable for withdrawal from Iraq before he was for it, as noted here).