The Washington Post has a column from German journo Christoph von Marschall noting that Barack Obama’s campaign has refused multiple requests from international reporters to travel with the candidate on his current international junket:
Perhaps Obama considers members of the foreign media a risk rather than an opportunity. His campaign learned the hard way how comments to foreigners can resonate at home — recall adviser Austan Goolsbee’s hints to a Canadian diplomat that Obama’s critique of NAFTA was just campaign rhetoric, or former aide Samantha Power’s “monster” remark about Hillary Clinton to the Scotsman. Or perhaps we’re witnessing the arrogance that comes from being so close to power. One of his campaign advisers told me recently: “Why should we take the time for foreign media, since there is Obamania around the world?”
Mr. von Marschall should not be surprised, inasmuch as hubris and control-freakishness are increasingly hallmarks of the Obama campaign. He has taken an “uncompromising approach” to when and where he would grant interviews to the network news anchors slavishly following him across the globe. He stonewalled the press on his relationship with convicted fraud, donor and real-estate partner Tony Rezko, ultimately going so far as to walk out on a press conference after eight questions. He stonewalls the press to this day about the black liberation theology of his longtime church. His campaign squeals over a cartoon or a poll analysis, even from usually friendly media. Jennifer Rubin and Charles Johnson say explicitly what von Marschall only implies — that Obama fears making a horrific gaffe because foreign affairs are generally foreign to him.
Which is why it is amusing that Camp Obama has selected a site with a Nazi history for Obama’s big speech in Germany. Oops.
(h/t Memeorandum.)
Update: Allah-lanche!
Comment by happyfeet on 7/20 @ 5:17 pm #
If Baracky doesn’t feel comfortable answering questions it’s kind of mean to try to badger him into it I think. He’s doing the best he can.
Comment by McGehee on 7/20 @ 5:19 pm #
Press Corps: “Senator Obama, will you be answering our questions today?”
Obama: “Go away and let me finish my waffle.”
Comment by happyfeet on 7/20 @ 5:27 pm #
For real there are people what can help. It worked for Ashlee Simpson a whole bunch. She already had some experience though.
Comment by Darleen on 7/20 @ 5:49 pm #
I just think as that Camp Obama wanted to avoid awkward explanations to foreign press what “monica kneepads” are as they were being passed out to the Couric, Gibson, et al.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 7/20 @ 5:54 pm #
Gleenwald is pissed because his “monica kneepads” apparently got lost in the mail. Or in the male. Or something.
Pingback by Hot Air » Blog Archive » Good news: Obama to be president for the next “eight to 10 years” on 7/20 @ 6:10 pm #
[...] so here’s something for tomorrow’s lesson, and (d) it gives me an excuse to link Karl’s post, which ties in to the question being put to the Messiah here. Why won’t he take questions [...]
Comment by happyfeet on 7/20 @ 6:13 pm #
It’s kind of confuzzling though, the irony. The less he talks to the media the more confidence he’s placing in it.
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 7/20 @ 6:15 pm #
= Ok. Lets assume as Bob Beckle is right, and this “traveling medicine show” is going to be better scripted than Hamlet.
- What if he gets back, and hes still behind McCain in the polls for trust in Iraq leadership?
- What if hes still tied in the overall polls.
- What if the whole thing turns out as net loss?
- What if no one in Germany decides to vote for him?
- If he can’t gain any advantage in Obamamania Europe, with the vast majority of American media in the tank, wall to wall coverage, in which he answers zero free lance questions, but instead gets fed carefully prepared lead-ins to let him respond with scripted talking points, if all that doesn’t give him any push, all while McCain is esentially inviable, what does he do next?
- BTW, Maliki has said that Der Speigal totally mis-quoted his comments, so where does that leave Obama’s knee-jerk jump to take advantage.
Comment by Chairman Me on 7/20 @ 6:17 pm #
We know what happened the last time a gifted orator started hosting giant rallies in Germany.
Comment by urthshu on 7/20 @ 6:21 pm #
first was eurodisney, now eurObama. I need to find a pshop of O with mickey ears…
Comment by geoffb on 7/20 @ 6:26 pm #
I love the diplomatic nuance of Democrat Presidential candidates lately. John Kerry of the “coalition of the coerced and bribed” managed to insult a number of countries at once. Now Obama picks a location for his speech that will disrespect Denmark, Austria, France and Germany all at the same time. Is it a new record?
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 7/20 @ 6:27 pm #
- Interestingly, when Beckle got twisted into the usual spin trying gamely to declare his CandyMan as on top of things in Iraq, he mentioned Minnie and Mickey mouse. So pshop away.
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 7/20 @ 6:30 pm #
- # 11
- Someone should make this an insta-launch, and maybe the turkeys in his campaign will have another “change of course”, or should that be “changiness, of course”. What a bunch of morons.
Comment by urthshu on 7/20 @ 6:33 pm #
Meh.
Comment by lucky on 7/20 @ 6:53 pm #
You expect to much. After all, he is just the Paris Hilton of Politics (famous for being famous). And as far as his Excellent Adventure – he’s just trying to get his Forrest Gump on (associate himself with someone else’s history/ accomplishment).
Comment by JimK on 7/20 @ 6:56 pm #
What’s the over/under on baracky changing the site one more time? Flip-flopping till the end.
Comment by urthshu on 7/20 @ 6:58 pm #
That would take being caught out on some major point – but he hasn’t any left that I know of.
Comment by urthshu on 7/20 @ 6:59 pm #
o wait – he does still want to be pres. won’t flip on that i think.
Comment by jon on 7/20 @ 7:29 pm #
Obama isn’t exactly on friendly terms with his own nation’s press, so why would he be expected to be open to the foreign press? Seems like pretty consistent behavior to me.
You could have called him a control freak for the past ten years, maybe his whole life if the press is to be believed. I see nothing new.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/20 @ 7:37 pm #
It’s cowardice, jon. It might not be a new thing but it’s pretty remarkable.
Comment by urthshu on 7/20 @ 7:46 pm #
Maybe we’re looking at the control freakness thing all wrong, like its surprising or odd because its not real democraticky, even surprising because the MSM lurves them some O! and its all unrequited – BUT – what’s really going on is maybe his earliest exposures to power/press dealings were in Indonesia and &c, so the distance is not dissonance to him.
I do not know, just asking really. Is it more common for 3rd world-y leaders to be distant/haughty to the press? If you look into O’s bios, you see he thinks traditional life is a key towards fulfillment and happiness [hes wrong for the us context, but thats what he thinks].
Comment by happyfeet on 7/20 @ 8:00 pm #
urthshu, this is a man who has already written two autobiographies even though he’s never done anything. He a lot feels like he needs to control perceptions of him. This is because he is a fearful and fragile little man with way bad impostor syndrome. It’s kind of painful to watch I think.
Comment by urthshu on 7/20 @ 8:12 pm #
well, yeah, i get that too, hf. just so little to go on with this puffball, i keep wanting to see greater depth is all.
same with the msm, too, i bet
Comment by Mr. Pink on 7/20 @ 8:15 pm #
Well Obama has to be a control freak with the foreign press, they might not swallow like our own MSM.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/20 @ 8:24 pm #
Right. It’s like crabcakes. Everyone’s always like you must try the crabcakes but you order them and there’s nothing to them and you’re hungry and now you’re just stuck being hungry until the entree gets here when you could’ve ordered like a quesadilla or something.
Comment by Ric Locke on 7/20 @ 8:27 pm #
…and what you need to do is contrast that with George Bush, who answers the most insulting questions in an even tone of voice and goes on, still smiling.
Like I said, it’ll take about until next March, maybe April, before we all start begging Jimmah to take back over.
Regards,
Ric
Comment by Karl on 7/20 @ 8:33 pm #
hf,
I would say he has the opposite of impostor syndrome.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/20 @ 8:45 pm #
Maybe. But that’s scarier.
Comment by cynn on 7/20 @ 9:14 pm #
Obama knows he will have to address the abrasive questions. I suggest he jettison his counter-productive spokespeople and start speaking for himself.
Comment by Ric Locke on 7/20 @ 9:44 pm #
cynn, that would be an excellent suggestion, and I heartily concur. The problem is that the few times he’s gone around the spokespeople and spoken for himself, the result has been even less happy than when he depended on the mouthpieces. The only way he’s going to get through the next four months reasonably intact is to do it from a pedestal with a force field around it and carefully arranged lighting. Which is essentially what he’s trying to do in Iraq.
Regards,
Ric
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 7/20 @ 9:46 pm #
Obama knows he will have to address the abrasive questions.
That’s why he keeps refusing a town-hall debate format with McCain, right?
In fact, the man is scared shitless of any situation that doesn’t involve a prepared script. With good reason, as Pablo notes.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 7/20 @ 9:47 pm #
Whoops, Ric Locke, not Pablo. I just replied to Pablo in another thread, and my fingers decided to lead their own life, wild and free.
Comment by cynn on 7/20 @ 10:09 pm #
Bottom line, I see Obama as a confection, and that’s a shame. We coulda been somebody. We’ll see how he does overseas.
Comment by Cincinnatus on 7/20 @ 10:21 pm #
If someone uses the phrase “Obamania across the world” they’re being snarky right?
Right?
Comment by Pablo on 7/20 @ 10:29 pm #
Who gives a shit how he does overseas? So far, we’ve seen him hit a three-pointer. What else should we expect? He’s already delivered his plan.
Maybe I should Hope for Change.
Comment by Pablo on 7/20 @ 10:32 pm #
SB&P, you can make that mistake anytime you like.
Comment by cynn on 7/20 @ 10:48 pm #
Ok, I’m not a typical spook, but I live in downtown Denver and just had 3 passes of low-flying black-ops helicops swoop around my neighborhood.
Comment by cynn on 7/20 @ 10:53 pm #
Sorry, that was OT.
Comment by Merovign on 7/20 @ 11:03 pm #
And also, spooks wouldn’t be worried about swarthy helicopters, they would be directing swarthy helicopters.
Looks like Cynn has some of the good vino this weekend.
Comment by maggie katzen on 7/20 @ 11:34 pm #
Cynn, maybe it’s some kind of drill for the convention?
Comment by Nan on 7/20 @ 11:58 pm #
I’ve decided that Obama is the Forest Gump of presidential candidates. Well, Forest Gump if Forest Gump had delusions of grandeur; fumbling his way to the White House with the help of a bunch of people who’ll use him ’til he’s wrung dry. He can’t handle any situation that calls for extemporaneous speech. He can’t handle open debate without fumbling like a high school freshman debater. Every time he’s left on his own to answer a question or express a thought he sounds like a fool. If he is elected, aside from fearing for my country, I’ll be wondering who’s really in charge.
Comment by Scrapiron on 7/21 @ 12:57 am #
If the 300+ foreign policy advisors haven’t approved the question and formulated an answer for Hussein O, the question will not be answered. Hussein suffers from a massive case of foot in mouth disease without some white guy in the backroom putting the answers on a teleprompter. More proof today when he stated he would be president for the next 8 or 10 years. The man is dumber than a box of rocks.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 7/21 @ 4:40 am #
“I suggest he jettison his counter-productive spokespeople and start speaking for himself.”
He’d have to throw himself under the bus.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 7/21 @ 5:47 am #
Comment by N. O’Brain on 7/21 @ 4:40 am #
He’d have to throw himself under the bus.
Well I am sure if Obama’s poll numbers dip low enough David Axlerod will find a way for Obama to do that.
Comment by TheGeezer on 7/21 @ 6:14 am #
Comment by Sdferr on 7/21 @ 6:26 am #
“Which is why it is amusing that Camp Obama has selected a site with a Nazi history for Obama’s big speech in Germany. Oops.”
Actually, I think Barack picked the Siegessäule for the Bruno Ganz feel. Baracky is in DER HIMMEL ÜBER BERLIN space where angels tread, looking down in pity on the struggling humans as they muddle away their corporeal lives.
Comment by alppuccino on 7/21 @ 6:31 am #
If you’re not in the last 300 that thinks highly of George W, (I am), you could at least learn one thing from his administration: you can’t script a presidency. eg. 9/11.
So anyone voting for Obama because of his scripted approach to everything, is essentially voting for a teleprompter and therefore is, essentially, an idiot.
Comment by JD on 7/21 @ 6:41 am #
alppuccino – When are you coming over?
Comment by Ric Locke on 7/21 @ 6:47 am #
Hey, I like that. May I steal it?
Leftoids always have a plan. George Bush is stupid because he clearly didn’t have a plan, remember? And John Kerry had a plan which was sure to solve every problem if it had ever been applied. Just ask him. And when the plan doesn’t work, it’s always because some dumbass subordinate didn’t execute properly. The plan is perfect. Always.
This is just the next step. Obama is developing a plan, and from the plan he and his advisors will develop a script. Anybody who doesn’t follow the script gets re-educated.
Regards,
Ric
Comment by alppuccino on 7/21 @ 6:48 am #
Sorry JD, I know I was targeting last week, but my family went down to Florida (including the MIL, which is why I didn’t go) and I had to stay close to the house. (2 golden retrievers).
Can we try for Thurs, July 31 early afternoon?
Comment by alppuccino on 7/21 @ 6:51 am #
Hey, I like that. May I steal it?
I copyright nothing. It’s yours Ric, use it for good and not evil.
Comment by JD on 7/21 @ 6:52 am #
I just put it in my calendar. 2:00 @ Purgatory ?
Comment by alppuccino on 7/21 @ 7:01 am #
Let’s do it. It’s in my calendar now as well. I’ll be there at 1:30.
Comment by BJTex on 7/21 @ 7:05 am #
This conclusion was perfectly reflected by daphne’s argument on a previous thread. you know, the logic that says that the results of the surge were too messy compared to the plan of the Iraq study group. You see, in leftist speak, plans have way more gravitas than, you know, actual results.
This coupled with the caricature arguing that leftists will take credit either way on the surge dovetails nicely into the all powerfull, ever morphing Narrative.™
We are all helpless in it’s ever changing hopiness!
Comment by JD on 7/21 @ 7:07 am #
Or, would you prefer to play The Brickyard ?
Comment by BJTex on 7/21 @ 7:08 am #
Also, let’s not forget that results that flow from an overarching blunder are meaningless as to any positive outcome.
Thus Obama always “knew” that the surge would provide “some increased security” which, even though it’s a bald faced lie, is the new Narrative.™
Kneel ‘thuglican warmongers!
Comment by Smirky McChimp on 7/21 @ 7:09 am #
It’s the March of the Goalposts at work. Now that the surge has done its job, we can expect plenty of daphnites to berate us for the fact that the ISG plan could have got it done at half the cost and double the hopiness. Sure, we stabilized a country that had been brought to the brink of civil war, but At. What. Cost?
Comment by JD on 7/21 @ 7:13 am #
Re-writing history as they go along. Words mean nothing in Baracky’s world.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 7/21 @ 7:13 am #
I was just waiting for daphne to rattle off her reasons for voting for Obama. That is always good for a laugh.
Comment by alppuccino on 7/21 @ 7:21 am #
Or, would you prefer to play The Brickyard ?
You’re on the mobile aren’t you? Purgatory is fine. Will you get the tee time?
Comment by BJTex on 7/21 @ 7:23 am #
I feel like I’ve been beamed into The Golf Channel.
Most likely it’s just jealousy.
Comment by alppuccino on 7/21 @ 7:25 am #
******Controversial Statement Alert******
Name Romney now!
He’ll talk about Obama in the way Obama was meant to be talked about. He will not mince words and mumble. He will stand up straight and let Barry have it proper-like. Name him now while BO is getting his EuroCircus on. Steal a little press time. C’mon McCain, get your fucking head out of your fucking ass you fucking magnificent bastard you.
Comment by Ric Locke on 7/21 @ 7:25 am #
I always ignore unreasonable terms in the User Agreement. Who do you think you are, Bill Gates? :-)
Regards,
Ric
Comment by Mr. Pink on 7/21 @ 7:28 am #
McCain could name Jesus as his vice president and he might be able to grab one day of headlines at most. The media is in full ankle grabing mode trying to get Obama elected.
Comment by alppuccino on 7/21 @ 7:28 am #
Knock, knock
Who’s there?
Control freak, NOW SAY CONTROL FREAK WHO!!
Comment by Sdferr on 7/21 @ 7:38 am #
Hot Air has just posted an Obama camp missive to female reporters listing the dress code for women on his trip into Jordan and Israel.
“Do not wear green.†(Explained later as the color of Hamas)
“Do not wear nail polish.â€Â
“Women should only wear a limited amount of jewelry.â€Â
“Shoulders and arms must be fully covered (no strapless tops, no tank tops, no short sleeve shirts.)â€Â
“Closed-toe shoes, women should also wear stockings.â€Â
Nah, they don’t have any control issues.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 7/21 @ 7:43 am #
I wonder if his handlers will still exclude Arabs from photographs?
Comment by JD on 7/21 @ 7:50 am #
alppuccino – 2:00. Done.
Comment by BJTex on 7/21 @ 7:58 am #
Are there any decent golf courses in the Palistinean Territories?
Probably not many water hazards, I’d wager. But bunkers? OY!
Comment by Education Guy on 7/21 @ 8:16 am #
Yeah, the left always has a plan and it’s mostly always the same.
1) Find someone really smart (or many someones)
2) Give them as much money/power as they claim to need, and then some more.
3) …
999) Blame someone else or imperfect execution for failure.
Comment by JD on 7/21 @ 8:19 am #
Purgatory has an average of 11 bunkers per hole. Those Pali’s have nothing on Central Indiana.
Comment by McGehee on 7/21 @ 8:28 am #
Obama’s resume is more padded than a transvestite’s bra — and it’s still incredibly thin.
Pingback by No Runny Eggs » Blog Archive » The Morning Scramble - 7/21/2008 on 7/21 @ 9:30 am #
[...] Karl found that Obama couldn’t put up with foreign presstitutes during the Obama World Tour. [...]
Pingback by Obama denies foreign media ability to cover him on 7/21 @ 9:54 am #
[...] He’s apparently terrified he’ll unleash some horrific new gaffe and unlike the US media they won’t hide it. [...]
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 7/21 @ 10:49 am #
Education Guy: Yeah, the left always has a plan and it’s mostly always the same.
1) Find someone really smart (or many someones)
2) Give them as much money/power as they claim to need, and then some more.
3) …
999) Blame someone else or imperfect execution for failure.
See also: Five Year Plan, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, Zimbabwean Land Reform, and Juche.
As Ric Locke said, wreckers and kulaks will need to be “reeducated”. Once you run out of those, you start looking for traitors within the Party.
Comment by Sdferr on 7/21 @ 11:28 am #
Which is what gives the ‘purge Buchanan’ gusts such creepy overtones, all the while Buchanan is clearly an anti-semitic asshole no-one in their right mind would want to associate with.
Comment by BOBY JOE on 4/4 @ 4:20 am #
I think that urthshu should finish what they wrote!!!!!!!!!!!:(