Obama-Europe loose ends

By: Jennifer Foster | Opelika Auburn News
Published: July 28, 2008 | 0 Comments | Post a Comment

Tying up some loose ends from Barack Obama’s Amazing Incredible Tour of Europe and the Middle East:

As an update to the “Despicable” post last week, the seminary student who stole Obama’s prayer from the Western Wall admitted his actions over the weekend, acknowledged that he and his group of friends tried to sell the prayer to a newspaper and then asked for Obama’s forgiveness. The young man tried to explain away the inexplicable folly as “sort of a prank.”

He adds that he hopes Obama wins the election.

With friends like these …

Did you know that American Foreign Service workers in Europe were forbidden to attend Obama’s speech in Berlin? State Department Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy (that’s some title) said, “We always maintain that no U.S. government Foreign Service person overseas should be seen to be advocating one side or the other,” adding that “it has nothing to do with who” the candidate is.

Predictably, HuffingtonPost.com found an exception: A speech John McCain delivered in Ottawa in June “prompted no such restrictions for the country's Foreign Service workers” and was actually reportedly organized in part by the U.S. ambassador to Canada, who also attended the event.

Obama gave Americans an inadvertent peek into his leadership style as he was overheard talking with Tory (American equivalent: conservative!) Leader David Cameron in London. The two were discussing the way schedulers leave little time for reflection or thought during the day by cramming appointments into 15-minute increments – a phenomenon Cameron said the British call “the dentist’s waiting room.”

SIDEBAR: Please do not e-mail me anything about Austin Powers’ dental hygiene or any variation on any joke about British folk waiting to see dentists. I am just the messenger. END SIDEBAR

Cameron said, “You have to scrap that because you've got to have time.” Obama agreed. From Jake Tapper’s ABC blog:

And, well, and you start making mistakes," Obama said, "or you lose the big picture. Or you lose a sense of, I think you lose a feel—”

"Your feeling," interrupted Cameron. "And that is exactly what politics is all about. The judgment you bring to make decisions."

"That's exactly right," Obama said. "And the truth is that we've got a bunch of smart people, I think, who know ten times more than we do about the specifics of the topics. And so if what you're trying to do is micromanage and solve everything then you end up being a dilettante but you have to have enough knowledge to make good judgments about the choices that are presented to you."

Voters, in case you’ve missed it to this point, Obama is a big-picture person.

If you’re wondering about the positive press coverage Obama’s managed to commandeer throughout the campaign, give this story a quick read. It details how Obama was able to smooth the ruffled feathers of the press by giving them a little TLC.

Ah, who says journalists are a heartless, jaded bunch?

“You had me at hello.”

And speaking of positive press, have you seen the new People magazine? The Obama family is staring back at you. “The Obamas at home,” promises the cover; “Exclusive photos!” chirps the hot pink rectangular box. Check out this story if you’re interested in Mrs. Obama’s hula-hooping skills, what the girls think of their dad’s hairdo and what chores the might-be-president used to do before he spent Fourths of July in Butte, Mont. (Note: Web content offers the complete interview; the article is available only in the print edition.)

I was telling someone yesterday that the Obamas are maximizing their opportunities for positive press, and understandably so: Tactically, they know that once the conventions are over and as September gives way to October, 527 money is going to start making its presence felt in the race – and on the airwaves. Positive press, like this People piece and the Access Hollywood interview this month, represent the Obama campaign’s attempts at prophylactic preparedness for the juggernaut that is surely on the way.