Frank Rich: How Obama Became Acting President

[RamboLiberal]

IT almost seems like a gag worthy of “Borat”: A smooth-talking rookie senator with an exotic name passes himself off as the incumbent American president to credulous foreigners. But to dismiss Barack Obama’s magical mystery tour through old Europe and two war zones as a media-made fairy tale would be to underestimate the ingenious politics of the moment. History was on the march well before Mr. Obama boarded his plane, and his trip was perfectly timed to reap the whirlwind.

He never would have been treated as a president-in-waiting by heads of state or network talking heads if all he offered were charisma, slick rhetoric and stunning visuals. What drew them instead was the raw power Mr. Obama has amassed: the power to start shaping events and the power to move markets, including TV ratings. (Even “Access Hollywood” mustered a 20 percent audience jump by hosting the Obama family.) Power begets more power, absolutely.

The growing Obama clout derives not from national polls, where his lead is modest. Nor is it a gift from the press, which still gives free passes to its old bus mate John McCain. It was laughable to watch journalists stamp their feet last week to try to push Mr. Obama into saying he was “wrong” about the surge. More than five years and 4,100 American fatalities later, they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit he was wrong when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast, produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.”

Never mind. This election remains about the present and the future, where Iraq’s $10 billion a month drain on American pocketbooks and military readiness is just one moving part in a matrix of national crises stretching from the gas pump to Pakistan. That’s the high-rolling political casino where Mr. Obama amassed the chips he cashed in last week. The “change” that he can at times wield like a glib marketing gimmick is increasingly becoming a substantive reality — sometimes through Mr. Obama’s instigation, sometimes by luck. Obama-branded change is snowballing, whether it’s change you happen to believe in or not.

Looking back now, we can see that the fortnight preceding the candidate’s flight to Kuwait was like a sequence in an old movie where wind blows away calendar pages to announce an epochal plot turn. First, on July 7, the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, dissed Bush dogma by raising the prospect of a withdrawal timetable for our troops. Then, on July 15, Mr. McCain suddenly noticed that more Americans are dying in Afghanistan than Iraq and called for more American forces to be sent there. It was a long-overdue recognition of the obvious that he could no longer avoid: both Robert Gates, the defense secretary, and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had already called for more American troops to battle the resurgent Taliban, echoing the policy proposed by Mr. Obama a year ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/27rich.html?ref=opinion

[KittyWampus]

1. “Access Hollywood” got a 20% audience jump by hosting the Obama family?

[Kire]

30. in "total viewers" it was 20%

in other categories it was even more


http://www.time-blog.com/tuned_in/2008/07/corporate_press_release_theate_29.html

[Cha]

2. This is the money quote..

"The growing Obama clout derives not from national polls, where his lead is modest. Nor is it a gift from the press, which still gives free passes to its old bus mate John McCain. It was laughable to watch journalists stamp their feet last week to try to push Mr. Obama into saying he was “wrong” about the surge. More than five years and 4,100 American fatalities later, they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit he was wrong when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast, produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.”

I think it is mccain's "vanity" that is at risk, though..not Obama's.

[redqueen]

23. "they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit he was wrong ...

when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast, produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.”

That's the part that jumped out at me.

:wow:

[Cha]

26. Needs to be spread far

and wide AND sent to the head scratching katie couric.

[Olney Blue]

3. Rich nails it. K and R.

[ClayZ]

4. Yeah! K and R

[MadMaddie]

5. This quote stood out to me..

<snip>
What was most striking about the Obama speech in Berlin was not anything he said so much as the alternative reality it fostered: many American children have never before seen huge crowds turn out abroad to wave American flags instead of burn them
<snip>

K & R

Frank Rich hit this one out of the ball park!

[calimary]

8. No Kidding. No Kidding.

They were waving flags and chanting USA USA! And they weren't all American tourists, either.

Think about that, you CONS out there. Or do you just really like being HATED and distrusted by the rest of the world?

[calimary]

6. Love it! The fist-bump is now cool - because the Obamas did it.

Love it! I just wish those poll numbers showed it more. WHY can mcsame still be generating the overall numbers he's getting, even this late in the game? America must just like its doddering old men. Wonder why they left bobdole on the sidelines then?

[goclark]

11. The same reason GW "won" the elections

and Kerry had huge crowds and Bush had little to none.

Bottom line: the polls and the MSM want it close so they can steal it.

No way is McCain that close to Obama.

[jazzjunkysue]

14. A steal would be laughable. Only a 2nd grader would believe it.

[Forrest Greene]

29. It Doesn't Matter Who Believes It

...as long as they do nothing about it.

[goclark]

32. They believe we are 2nd graders

And, what did we really do about the FRAUD in the last election?

How has the voting system improved?

How are we sure that our vote will be counted?

I have not seen anyone brought to justice including Rove.

[pipi_k]

21. I don't believe the polls either

I mean, who are they asking? The same people who give different answers from week to week depending on how they feel? Or some small action taken or not taken by one of the presumptive candidates? If that's true, then the polls are being taken by damned fools.

Or maybe the questions are worded in such a way that the data can be manipulated...


That the MSM are reporting polls being so "close" is as mystifying to me as if, for example, people were asked which option they'd prefer...

1. A brand new vehicle, clean and shiny and without scrapes or dents, runs perfectly, or

2. A piece of shit junker filled with bottles and cans and decorated with the remnants of many past encounters with shopping carts and it's sitting on concrete blocks in someone's weed-infested yard.

yeah, so 51% of respondents say they'd choose option #1 and 49% say they'd choose option #2.


utterly unthinkable that the percentages would be that "close" unless people who chose option #2 were mentally impaired or gluttons for punishment.

[aquart]

38. Completely off the point of the article.

And unless you have a point by point plan of election protection you're eager to sell (which would need a link to its OP), pretty pointless moaning and handwringing.

[stlsaxman]

19. i do "terrist fist jabs" with all sorts of folk all the time now-a-days...

[pipi_k]

22. I just did it

with my four year old grandson last week

Bad Nanny...teaching him to be a terrist...


hee hee

:evilgrin:

[jwirr]

25. Is it possible that the manipulation of polls is part of the theft of the

elections? Obviously they need to look to be close prior to the election in order to fool the people when the front runner (Gore/Kerry/Obama) "loses" the election.

[goclark]

33. Exactly! Wake Up America!

While we sit quietly back and planning for a Democrat in the WH, the criminals are busy as can be and laughing at us.

I bet they are saying, " McCain may be old and makes mixtakes but we will have the last laugh."

[Inuca]

7. Great column

"a candidate so oblivious to our nation’s big challenges ahead that he is doubling down in his campaign against both Mr. Maliki and Mr. Obama to be elected commander in chief of the surge. "

[NJCher]

9. there are at least a dozen great lines in that piece

I laughed my way through it. Frank Rich totally deserves to be one of the NY Times' leading columnists.

The illustration is hilarious, too.

Cher

[DylansDreams]

10. Why don't they ask McCain that question ?

"they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit he was wrong when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast, produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.”

I really would like to hear that answer.

[dkf]

12. iokiyar

[jazzjunkysue]

13. "The Obama stampede is forcing Mr. McCain to surrender on other domestic fronts."

Undoubtably one of Frank's most inspired rants. A great read.

[Number23]

15. Hell. YES.

While drama-queen commentators on television last week were busy building up false suspense about the Obama trip — will he make a world-class gaffe? will he have too large an audience in Germany? — few focused on the alarms that Mr. McCain’s behavior at home raise about his fitness to be president.

Once again he displayed a tantrum-prone temperament ill-suited to a high-pressure 21st-century presidency. His grim-faced crusade to brand his opponent as a traitor who wants to “lose a war” isn’t even a competent impersonation of Joe McCarthy. Mr. McCain comes off instead like the ineffectual Mr. Wilson, the retired neighbor perpetually busting a gasket at the antics of pesky little Dennis the Menace.

Fantastically well-written and bloody accurate. THIS is the kind of stuff I need to see to counter all of the other stuff on DU that's making me nervous as all hell.

Frank Rich is on the MONEY.

[blogslut]

16. Frank Rich is the jewel of the Times

He is worth one hundred Dowds and then some.

[rontun]

17. Rich sums up how I've felt all week.

Watching Obama this week was like watching the president I'd been hoping for. He was truly astounding. And it's pretty clear that his performance has had an impact beyond his traditional supporters if yesterday's "100 Day Canvass" is any indication.

[AlbertCat]

40. Bingo

Obama acts like a president, not a cowboy or Rambo. That alone is enough to make "Old Europe" and indeed the rest of the world happy. The Bushies are just an embarrassment to have to host and be in front of the cameras with.

And on top of that.... Obama has some good ideas (that Bush and McCain are now stealing)and seems eager to get some work done besides clearing brush on the 1200th vacation.

He's presidential because he's not residing in Dick Cheney's or the House of Saud's pants.

[polichick]

18. "Mr. McCain comes off instead like the ineffectual Mr. Wilson...

...the retired neighbor perpetually busting a gasket at the antics of pesky little Dennis the Menace."


:rofl:

[chimpymustgo]

20. McCain: "Get off my yard!". Frank Rich KILLS.

Another GREAT column. If only a fraction of the media were as smart, perceptive and fair...

[Faygo Kid]

24. As I watch Meet the Press, I am grateful for Frank Rich.

Tom Brokaw is not distinguishing himself.

To put it mildly.

[klyon]

27. I agree, Brokaw showed his true colors today

from the poll numbers he picked (and the the incorrect conclusions he drew from them) to the questions he asked. He needs to move to fox news, he could replace the guy moving on (Bret Hume I think).

[jeanmarc]

39. I don't get it about MTP

Why is it after Russert has passed that the show continues to be tougher on Dems than Republicans?

[treestar]

28. kick

for a great article

[Patsy Stone]

31. Excellent.

This imagery was great:

Looking back now, we can see that the fortnight preceding the candidate’s flight to Kuwait was like a sequence in an old movie where wind blows away calendar pages to announce an epochal plot turn.

[DemoTex]

34. Great illustration! '58 Caddy. That was when McSame was in his prime.

Relatively speaking, of course. Here he is in his Tux posing for a Caddy ad in 1958:

[elleng]

35. Check out Obama interview

today, late edition. (You may ignore the first one in transcript, mcC!)

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0807/27/le.01.html

[mzmolly]

36. K,B,R

Great article. Loved the portion where Rich discusses the refusal of the press to hold McSame accountable for his assertions prior to the Iraq War.

[L0oniX]

37. K & R

[Historic NY]

41. Drama Queens.........

While drama-queen commentators on television last week were busy building up false suspense about the Obama trip — will he make a world-class gaffe? will he have too large an audience in Germany? — few focused on the alarms that Mr. McCain’s behavior at home raise about his fitness to be president.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

42. Great Aritcle

[liberal N proud]

43. If the world sees him as acting President it is because we have not had one

for the last 7 1/2 years.

The world needs the US to lead by example and we have not been a very good example since the bu$h regime has had it's grip on this country.
The world is saying Obama is what we need to regain our credibility in the world and once again lead them.

GOBAMA

[WheelWalker]

44. Most excellent read ! k&r and thank you for the post.