Cotton Candy, Popcorn, And German Chocolate For The Folks In The Back

David Brooks ignores Obama's dis of Martin Luther King and Jesse Jackson and looks for the substance of Obama's speech.  He is still looking:

...[Per Obama's speech] The Berlin blockade was thwarted because people came together. Apartheid ended because people came together and walls tumbled. Winning the cold war was the same: “People of the world,” Obama declared, “look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together and history proved there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.”

When I first heard this sort of radically optimistic speech in Iowa, I have to confess my American soul was stirred. It seemed like the overture for a new yet quintessentially American campaign.

But now it is more than half a year on, and the post-partisanship of Iowa has given way to the post-nationalism of Berlin, and it turns out that the vague overture is the entire symphony. The golden rhetoric impresses less, the evasion of hard choices strikes one more.

When John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan went to Berlin, their rhetoric soared, but their optimism was grounded in the reality of politics, conflict and hard choices. Kennedy didn’t dream of the universal brotherhood of man. He drew lines that reflected hard realities: “There are some who say, in Europe and elsewhere, we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin.” Reagan didn’t call for a kumbaya moment. He cited tough policies that sparked harsh political disagreements — the deployment of U.S. missiles in response to the Soviet SS-20s — but still worked.

In Berlin, Obama made exactly one point with which it was possible to disagree. In the best paragraph of the speech, Obama called on Germans to send more troops to Afghanistan.

The argument will probably fall on deaf ears. The vast majority of Germans oppose that policy. But at least Obama made an argument.

Steven Erlanger of the Times makes a similar point:

News Analysis

Obama, Vague on Issues, Pleases Crowd in Europe

By STEVEN ERLANGER

PARIS — For Senator Barack Obama, who came to Europe once in the last four years, making a stop in London on his way to Russia, the response of many Europeans to his potential presidency has been gratifying — emotional, responsive, replete with the sense of hope he seeks to engender about a more flexible, less ideological America.

European governments and politicians are not so sure.

On Thursday evening in a glittering Berlin, Mr. Obama delivered a tone poem to American and European ideals and shared history.

But he was vague on crucial issues of trade, defense and foreign policy that currently divide Washington from Europe and are likely to continue to do so even if he becomes president — issues ranging from Russia, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan to new refueling tankers and chlorinated chickens, the focus of an 11-year European ban on American poultry imports.

Kumbaya, baby - our next President.

NOT FEELING THE FEELING: Now this is just disrespectful. 

Comments

[BobS]

Hi, gang. Off the fake Obama concert in Berlin thing.

[Ernie G]

Dan Aykroyd, on SNL, had the perfect line: "Jane Christine, you ignorant slut!"

[BobS]

Hi, gang. Off the fake Obama concert in Berlin thing.

[BobS]

Sue: all the lefties on his staff are trying to lie/spin out of that

[Enlightened]

"he has the courage to not give gifts to his daughters for Christmas"

No Kwanzaa presents either?

[Ann]

I think this is good news from Michael Barone 07/23/08:

Another interesting result from Rasmussen. He now shows that voters believe the United States is winning rather than losing the war on terrorism by a 51 percent-to-16 percent margin. A year ago, in July 2007, the numbers were 36 percent to 36 percent. That's a big change. It could mean that voters will want to continue something like the current approach, which would be good news for McCain. Or it could mean that voters will decide that we don't need to worry about terrorism much anymore, which would be good news for Obama. Stay tuned. I don't think the voters' decision-making process is complete yet.

[Rick Ballard]

Sue,

Which of the Obaleeches in the MSM is going to ask His Emptiness how many times he's made the long and terribly difficult trip from DC out to Walter Reed to visit wounded troops? Maybe this is his "moment of courage"? After all, Mowlett's Ass became very popular among the seditionists for his "Screw'em" remark - apply it to US soldiers and it should get twice the bang for Obama.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Uh, Enlightened, Sarkoszy actually is the "President of the EU" --- he's President of the European Council, which is called "president of the EU" in a lot of the English-speaking press.

[BobS]

Did anyone see how a law professor reffered to Conyers House committee as DEMENTED for their attempts at impeachment?

[Ann]

This is pathetic: Obama Phones Wounded Soldiers

"Obama made phone calls to wounded soldiers at Landstuhl Germany this morning, in lieu of a personal visit to the forces that was canceled by the Obama campaign.

Obama was expected to speak to a number of soldiers individually. "

[BobS]

OMG...he phoned them?????? NFW!!!!!

[Enlightened]

Hi Charlie - That's why I said "Nevermind" in my next post....

[BobS]

He and his campaign are more of a fraud than anyone can imagine. He f....ing CALLED them???

[Ann]

My question BobS, is did he call collect or are the taxpayers again paying for it? Hmmmmmmm.

[Jane]

I bet they were all too gracious to hang up on him. They should have.

[BobS]

awwwwww, geeeez

[BobS]

C'mon....they weren't THAT stupid, were they? Someone, please tell that. Lee? I'm begging YOU. THAT stupid????

[Mac]

If the U.S. as a nation is stupid enough to elect Bama, they deserve what they get. Elmer Gantry wouldn't have had a thing on this shyster.

I'm a U.S. citizen but I'll be spending the years 2008-2012 out of the country if he's elected.

I've got one major question: how, in a country of 300 million people, many of whom are extraordinarily intelligent and decent, did we end up with these three characters as the only likely choices for President?

[BobS]

He has to give it back to Hillary now. You mean his people let him make the call? NO WAY!

[BobS]

Who's more STUPID? Him? Or the FOOLS he has in his campaign?

[BobS]

Thank Him, some lefty demonstrates they can pass a literacy test.....MAC! Thank GOD, man.....MAC... You went intelligent equivalnce. Thank goodness, an excuse

[Bill in AZ]

Rick, earlier this week it was Nancy freaking out over oil issues. Now it's Harry Reid lashing out at reporters over energy bill. It doesn't take too much dot-connecting to figure out that he is also getting "WTF" text messages from dinnerjacket - as he watches his centrifuge order shrink day by day while his full oil tankers bob in the harbor losing millions per day. I can understand why they're irritable - they've pissed off the worlds biggest terrorist.

[BobS]

Exhale, lefty trolls. He did it on a Friday

[BobS]

Somehow I picture San Fran Nan chanelling the Wicked Witch of the West...."Ohhhhhh,what a world"

[Ann]

Makes you wonder what the wounded soldiers at Landstuhl Germany thought of when they heard "This is The Moment"? (The moment to visit, the moment to call, the moment to get a vote, the moment to lose?)

Quess who said this:

"This is our moment. This is our time. This is our chance. To stand up for what's right. We're not looking for charity. We're lookin' for justice!" Bono 2005

Quess who said this:

"People of Berlin! People of the world! This is our moment. This is our time." Yes, The plagiarizing OBAMA 2008

H/T RUSH

[Sara]

Via Gateway Pundit:

Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?

Barack Obama
Campaign Speech in Berlin, Germany
July 24, 2008

John and Cindy McCain adopted Bridget McCain... From Bangladesh ... in 1991.

[Sue]

Oh, Ann. I bet Obama and Bono are friends. And besides, they're just words.

[BobS]

awwwwww, geeeez. No way, Sara.

[BobS]

Maybe The Edge writes Oba Ones speeches now

[BobS]

We just cant any of this

[BobS]

As an aside, I think Bono has a bit of a "compassionate conservative" way about him, dontchya think?

[Sara]

From Gateway Pundit:

The Wall Street Journal reported:

(I)n 1991 Cindy McCain was visiting Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh when a dying infant was thrust into her hands. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save her life, so Mrs. McCain brought the child home to America with her. She was met at the airport by her husband, who asked what all this was about.

Mrs. McCain replied that the child desperately needed surgery and years of rehabilitation. "I hope she can stay with us," she told her husband. Mr. McCain agreed. Today that child is their teenage daughter Bridget.

...(T)here was a second infant Mrs. McCain brought back. She ended up being adopted by a young McCain aide and his wife.

"We were called at midnight by Cindy," Wes Gullett remembers, and "five days later we met our new daughter Nicki at the L.A. airport wearing the only clothing Cindy could find on the trip back, a 7-Up T-shirt she bought in the Bangkok airport." Today, Nicki is a high school sophomore. Mr. Gullett told me, "I never saw a hospital bill" for her care.

[Ann]

Yes, Sue, they are both citizens and children of the world. :) Where do we apply? ::grin::

[BobS]

Sara...PLEASE make sure no one at MSNBC is reminded of this

[BobS]

(This is a Keith O lefty loon kool-aid drinking site, right?)

[BobS]

He really tried to call? NOW?

[Sue]

I've been thinking this all day, but I noticed a commenter at the Washington Times beat me to saying it..."It's a given. The country that loved Hitler is bound to love Obama." Why the hell does anyone care what Germany thinks of Obama? They also fell for Hiltler's flowery prose.

[Ann]

Sara, According to the "Obama House Rules" it is more important that we:

4) Keep playroom toy closet clean

I loved your post and it says so much more about McCain than the Moment guy that thinks he can call it in to the wounded soldiers that I love, like you.

[bad]

From McClatchy on Obama's French speechifying:

Obama said what he gained from the trip was "not blinding insight but a deepening of a set of concerns you already had" and that "there was nothing that I saw that caused me to change my basic strategic assessment" on security and foreign policy.

It's official. He found nothing on his fact finding trip because he already knew it all.

LUN

[BobS]

Sue: Ive been saying..and praying...for some time, that Americans no longer get their news in the way the Nazis spread it. (Careful here, BobS) The Dems spread their message the same way and are no longer able to. Its why Berlin wont work...and the damn photo of Barak supposedly calling wounde troops wont either. Plus, I believe the Edward R Murrow generation of journalists were more worthy of respect than they are now

[belle]

Ann: Obama Phones Wounded Soldiers
"phone it in" (urbandictionary.com): Perform an act in a perfunctory, uncommitted fashion, as if it didn't matter.

[scottl720]

'concerns you already had'

notice the 'you' tense, its a pet peeve of mine, actually it's very important, the conventions of language,

[Sue]

I've been perusing Obama supporting blogs to see what they are saying about his latest, greatest speech ever. It may just be me, but I get a sick feeling when I notice masculine sounding names in the comment sections weeping on their key boards over Obama's speeches.

[PaulL]

I sure am tired of hearing Obama work "strategy" and "tactics" into every statement he makes. So he recently learned their different definitions. What's he want? A freakin' boutonnière?

H/t Sopranos (Bowdlerized).

[BobS]

Now, Sue. You have to know that those of your own gender promoted the feminization of men in the 70's. What you see are the fruits of all y'alls labors.....siccies for lefties

[bad]

'concerns you already had'

On the other hand, it occured to me that he might really be talking about "you, the french people, and your concerns".....He wants desperately to be liked by them.

[Ann]

belle,

My daughter is the hip one on urbandictionary.com and rolls her eyes at me all the time. Thanks for your post, understanding it makes me feel very young!

[Danube of Thought]

"In any past presidential elections have any of our candidates held press conferences with foreign leaders as if they were meeting as a president there on equal grounds?"

Heavens, no. That would be terribly presumptuous, don't you think?

And if there's one thing we know about Mr. Obama, it's that he abhors presumptuousness.

[bad]

Powerline has excerpts of McCain's speech:

Senator Obama told the American people what he thought you wanted to hear. I told you the truth.

--------------

Senator Obama said this week that even knowing what he knows today that he still would have opposed the surge. In retrospect, given the opportunity to choose between failure and success, he chooses failure. I cannot conceive of a Commander in Chief making that choice.

There is much more. LUN

[Andrew Garland]

Obama reminds me of a slick guy pushing hard on a first date.

My take on this is at
http://easyopinions.blogspot.com/2008/07/seduction-and-politics.html style="color:DarkBlue">Seduction and Politics

[MayBee]

Nenicho- how sweet you are!

DoT- Joe Klein at TIME says calling him presumptuous is racist.

[BobS]

Ah....Mr. Klien....doesnt he work for the magazine that named Fidel Castro their Man of the Year? His picture was on the cover with the caption, "Lion in Winter"

[getagrip]

A joke told by John McCain at a 1998 republican fundraiser:

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Because her father is Janet Reno."

Could anybody even imagine Obama telling such a mean spirited and classless "joke"?

[JM Hanes]

Nope. He'd get Michelle to do it for him.

[Pagar]

Good morning to all!
Seems to me that Obama treated his early political mentor, Ms Palmer in a mean spirited and classless manner and has gone downhill from there.

[hit and run]

Good Morning! Barackadoodledoo!

[Jane]

Good Morning blokes! Pass the vegimite.

[Rocco]

We discuss Iraq, and I gave my impressions about the improved situation there.

He devoted a total of 12 words, on the subject of Iraq and not a word about our troops there.

He did however praise French troops in Afghanistan.

While I was in Afghanistan, the NATO commanders, the U.S. commanders on the ground all expressed great admiration and appreciation for the wonderful work that the French troops are doing in Afghanistan.

[hit and run]

I must say that trying vegemite is in the bottom 10 culinary experiences in my life.

I'm glad I did it..."if it doesn't kill you it will only make you stronger" and all that.

[clarice]

Very good, Hit!

[Jane]

I must say that trying vegemite is in the bottom 10 culinary experiences in my life.

When in London....

[hit and run]

bad:
I saw a blurb on Lucianne that he has the courage to not give gifts to his daughters for Christmas or their birthdays because he is teaching them limits.

Well, I may get around to actually considering this more fully, but for now, it will have to be less than fully considered.

Obama is a short, stocky, slow-witted bald man*.

What?

I mean, George Costanza.

At Christmas, he probably gives people cards that say, "A donation has been made in your name to the Human Fund"

And, when a friend is going to take a lie detector test, he probably tells them, "Jerry, just remember, it's not a lie if you believe it"*

Oh, there's more. But that'll do for now.

------------
* Not to be confused with the hero of the Soylentian adventures, of course

[hit and run]

Oh, yes, Jane...I was in Melbourne when I tried it -- and even knowing the gag reflex it produced, I would try it again were I there.

But a meat pie at a Aussie rules football game is much more my speed.

Go Carlton!

[Soylent Red]

Hit:

Let's not forget that, like Costanza he succeeds when he does the opposite of what his natural inclination is.

[hit and run]

Absolutely. I may one day chart this whole thing out, Obama as Costanza.

Plus,the photoshop possibilities are titilating.

[Ann]

BREAKING NEWS: Obama thinks one has to have vacations and also that you need to "think" to be a leader!!!!

Microphone Picks Up Private Conversation Between Obama and British Leader on Need for Vacations and 'Thinking' Time

[Soylent Red]

titilating

Perhaps you need a Man-ssiere?

[Ann]

MORE BREAKING NEWS: Obama should go on vacation and think about being humble :)

Obama the Prideful
By Jeff Dobbs

[Jane]

But a meat pie

Ever had one in Perth?

Unbelievable!

[Porchlight]

Great work, Hit. Hope your Chanticleer comparison gets the wide circulation it deserves.

[Porchlight]

The funniest part of Obama's remarks to Cameron is the suggestion that Clinton had set aside big chunks of time each day for "thinking."
That is just awesome on so many levels.

[hit and run]

No, we were not able to make it to Perth. We keep threatening to go back to Australia, but will probably wait a while until the kids are old enough to appreciate it (or be left behind!).

[Porchlight]

Plus,the photoshop possibilities are titilating.

This is more Jerry than George, but while you're at it, I would love to see Obama in a puffy shirt. With a man-purse.

"It's not a purse. It's European."

[PeterUK]

"The funniest part of Obama's remarks to Cameron is the suggestion that Clinton had set aside big chunks of time each day for "thinking."

It's the thinking that leaves the stains.

[PeterUK]

Vegemite is an antipodean delicacy,we have "Marmite".
To really appreciate Marmite eat it with toasted cheese.
Lightly toast sliced bread,about 3/4" thick to get the combination of doughiness and crunchiness.
Cover with a good cooking cheese,making sure every part of the bread is covered.
Smear with Marmite
Toast under a grill until the cheese melts and browns slightly,to taste.
Eat.
Repeat

[Soylent Red]

"Tell Hillary I'm in the Oval Office...uh, thinking. And bring me some cigars."

[clarice]

Why waste good bread and cheese? I haven't been in England for some years--when there I largely stuck to Indian food and the grill at Fortnum's or places that serve poached salmon or roast beef..(I know it's gotten better in recent years, but the memory of old English food lingers on in my taste buds.)

[Porchlight]

I've never had Marmite, but well-made Welsh rarebit is fabulous. I really enjoy English food. I'm heading to London in October (with an old friend who is a big Obama fan - gonna be hell if there's an October surprise and I can only reach JOM on my friend's iPhone) and I can't wait.

[clarice]

Charlie got an instalanche--YEAH!!

[Jane]

I actually had two of the best meals of my life in England, which I realize is incredibly unlikely. The first at a wedding, in Braughing, and the second at the Lygon Arms.

LUN

[Jane]

So I was looking at Drudge and went and read a piece about OBAma's brother, and it occur to me, maybe the whole birth certificate scandal is tied to the fact that Obama's father was a bigamist.

LUN

[clarice]

Well. we KNOW he was--that's no secret..In fact, it is unclear whether he ever married O's mother.

[centralcal]

Happy Saturday everyone. While you all ponder the serious stuff, I am wondering if Mickey Kaus is right about the Silky Pony scandal maybe getting some legs BEFORE the Dim's convention. Do they let him speak or make an appearance? Hmmm.

And, if they do schedule him, would that be an opportune time for NE to suddenly release photos and/or video?

Golly, I just love suspense. Even if NE has nothing, no one knows that for sure and it has to be giving some politicos heartburn.

[kim]

cc, what are the chances, really, that they have nothing. They are probably going to court with video of the security guards. This is going to be a humdinger and may be a play at the critical delegates that Edwards has for the first ballot. Oh, why does that make me shiver?
===========================

[Jane]

Not to mention Edwards, Centralcal. Boy the frosty flakes at his 28,000 sq ft house have got to be mighty frosty these days.

Clarice, so the whole bigamist thing is out there and being ignored?

[kim]

clarice and Jane, I wonder if that feeds into the whole newspaper birth announcement thing. The hospital and the newspaper may have been told one thing, and the state another.
==============================

[kim]

Jane, those poor kids.
============

[kim]

And yes, Jane, ignored. It's OK under sharia, though, so get ready to be ashamed of your intolerance. Besides, wasn't his African marriage heathen?
=========================

[cathyf]

maybe the whole birth certificate scandal is tied to the fact that Obama's father was a bigamist

Nah, that doesn't really make much sense. Anybody who has read Dreams of My Father knows that Obama Sr was a bigamist who abandoned Barack and his mother to go to graduate school at Harvard. Obama has built a significant amount of his campaign around the theme of telling black men that it's not acceptable to treat their children the way his father treated him. Nah, bigamist doesn't cut it.

[Jane]

Since Obama senior returned to the same woman after he left the states maybe it was just an Islamic thing - multiple wives - no biggie.

(This has probably all been discussed. Sorry if I'm retreading on old ground.)

[PeterUK]

Obama's Brother the Muslim.

[centralcal]

I feel sorry for the Edward's children. I feel sorry for anyone suffering from cancer. I am sure Elizabeth has a lot of things on her mind and surely doesn't need this additional burden. But, she has also just as surely known the character of her husband for a very long time.

Someone wise once said "we are all our choices made, and not made."

As to the whole Obama Birth Certificate brouhaha. I agree wholeheartedly with JM Hanes that something "hinky" is going on. A few days ago I posted on one of these threads a quote from the TNR about the media being "terrified" of digging too deeply into Barack's personal life. Somebody somewhere does need to do some digging. If NE is really out to destroy RW's foes, then they might go after The One (BO) instead of The Was (JE).

[PeterUK]

Clarice,
That is the point of cheese and toast or Welsh Rarebit,it uses up the dog ends of cheese.For those who can't stand Marmite there is Worcester Sauce.For Welsh Rarebit add mustard to the mix.

[Porchlight]

I don't think Obama Sr.'s bigamy is common knowledge among the Great Muddle (his abandoning the family, yes - bigamy, no). And most Obama supporters would probably call it a right-wing smear, even though it is true and Obama has admitted as much.

But I'm not sure how it would play out on the COLB. The original birth certificate might have been stamped "illegitimate" if Obama's parents were never married. But a genuine, recently-generated COLB probably wouldn't have that info, I'm guessing, so that shouldn't keep Obama from producing one.

[Danube of Thought]

Frankly, I can't imagine Barack Obama telling a joke of any kind whatsoever. If the man has a scintilla of a sense of humor, he had concealed it under a bushel throughout his exceedingly strange life. Eerie and a bit frightening.

[clarice]

kim, what an interesting idea.What do silky's votes plus RW's votes amount to?

[MayBee]

Porchlight- I agree that perhaps the bigamy is not widely known. I don't think it is a big deal, but for the narrative Obama tries to put out about his father and his family for world consumption.
In his speech in Berlin, his father became a goatherder who longed for freedom so he did everything within his power to immigrate to America's shining shores.
A bigamist drunken communist who came to study for two years and knocked up the local white woman doesn't really sound so....grand.

[clarice]

Jane:
(a) There is no record of his parents' marriage or divorce
(b) His father was already married when O was born and returned to that wife with whom he had more children
(c)After Stanley, his father took another wife and a number of girlfriends and IIRC died being still married to those 2 Kenyan women.

It also seems Stanley was under 18 when he got her pregnant. I do not know what the statutory rape age in Hawaii was at the time.

[Elliott]

I believe Edwards had a mere 26 delegates, whom he released when he endorsed Obama.

[Elliott]

When in London....

Have tea at Fortnum's.