Obama '08?

Barack Obama wants to speak at the Brandenburg Gate. He figures it would be a nice backdrop. The supporting cast -- a cheering audience and a few fainting frauleins -- would be a picturesque way to bolster his foreign policy credentials.

What Obama does not seem to understand is that the Brandenburg Gate is something you earn. President Ronald Reagan earned the right to speak there because his relentless pressure had brought the Soviet empire to its knees and he was demanding its final "tear down this wall" liquidation. When President John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate on the day of his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, he was representing a country that was prepared to go to the brink of nuclear war to defend West Berlin.

Who is Obama representing? And what exactly has he done in his lifetime to merit appropriating the Brandenburg Gate as a campaign prop? What was his role in the fight against communism, the liberation of Eastern Europe, the creation of what George Bush the elder -- who presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall but modestly declined to go there for a victory lap -- called "a Europe whole and free"?

Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted "present" nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.

After all, in the words of his own slogan, "we are the ones we've been waiting for," which, translating the royal "we," means: " I am the one we've been waiting for." Amazingly, he had a quasi-presidential seal with its own Latin inscription affixed to his lectern, until general ridicule -- it was pointed out that he was not yet president -- induced him to take it down.

He lectures us that instead of worrying about immigrants learning English, "you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish" -- a language Obama does not speak. He further admonishes us on how "embarrassing" it is that Europeans are multilingual but "we go over to Europe, and all we can say is 'merci beaucoup.' " Obama speaks no French.

With Petraeus:



With the General and Chuck Hegel:

McCain sounds like an old fart when he objects to Obama, especially regarding this trip. Besides, Obama looks really cool.

Wise old farts can save your life, cool looking inexperienced young guys can get you in big trouble.

McCain sounds like an old fart ...

As I've noted before, it really doesn't matter who you vote for this time.

H2O_MAN wrote:

Wise old farts can save your life, cool looking inexperienced young guys can get you in big trouble.

You have a point about old farts-- and McCain does have some wisdom and experience, but you underestimate Obama.

Gala wrote:

McCain sounds like an old fart ...

Maybe to you, who lacks war experience. But to mature adults, Senator McCain is a hero, a prisoner of war for 5 years, and a certified "HE MAN"...

When was the last time you met a real man, Gala?

Gala wrote:

H2O_MAN wrote:

Wise old farts can save your life, cool looking inexperienced young guys can get you in big trouble.

You have a point about old farts-- and McCain does have some wisdom and experience, but you underestimate Obama.

Yes & No.

Yes McCain has wisdom and experience & no, I have not underestimated Obama.


It is apparent that many are overestimating Obama's abilities to the point that they don't even care.
This is very dangerous.

An Orange County pastor was able to do what no one else could: arrange John McCain and Barack Obama's first joint general-election campaign appearance.

The presidential contenders will share the stage, if only for a few minutes, at a forum next month at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, the first time -- at least so far -- they will appear together before each party's convention this summer, a spokeswoman for pastor Rick Warren said today.

I do think his going to Iraq is a smart move, and it seems as if no one is objecting except for McCain.

AMMAN, Jordan-An Obama campaign ban on green clothing during the candidate's visits to Israel and Jordan has created wide puzzlement among observers of the Middle East.

In a memo to reporters, described as "a few guidelines we sent staff before departure to the Middle East," Obama advance staffer Peter Newell laid out rules on attire for Jordan and Israel.

First among them: "Do not wear green."

An Obama aide explained to reporters that green is the color associated with the militant Palestinian group Hamas. But while the color does appear on Hamas banners, there is no particular symbolism to wearing green clothes, experts said.

Moreover, green is more generally seen as a symbol of Islam.

"A ban on wearing green seems bizarre," said Richard Bulliet, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Columbia University, who said the color is associated with the family of the Prophet Mohammed.

"I would hazard the guess that the campaign's concern is more with distorted�-and religiously inaccurate�-reporting by Obama's detractors than with any actual signal that might be conveyed," he said, referring to false rumors that Obama is a Muslim. "You don't want to have some blogger come along and say �'Obama is showing his true color.'"

"I think they're just being overcautious to a ridiculous degree," Bulliet said.

Mohamad Bazzi, a professor of journalism at New York University and former Middle East bureau chief for Newsday, called the instruction "very strange."