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Why Barack Obama Doesn’t “Know His Place”
By Al Owens

Barack Obama made a monumental blunder last week. He forced 200 thousand Germans to cheer him with American flags in their hands.

Who does he think he is? Why didn’t he stay home and try to help little old ladies cross the street, whether they wanted to or not?

Why didn’t he do what John McCain did, and tour a grocery store with a hand picked campaign “shopper?”

Obama’s spirited dance across the world stage got mixed reviews, from everybody except John McCain. His campaign staff bristled at how Obama managed to get so much attention, while their own candidate was quoting the high price of milk on aisle 9.

It’s not like McCain hasn’t made his own trips abroad. He has. Unfortunately for him, (And perhaps fortunately) when he met with heads of state in Iraq, Jordan, Israel and London and France a few months ago, the media was focused on somebody else – Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

In fact, while McCain’s last Middle East trip got some coverage, the day after he landed in Bagdad on March 16th it was Hillary Clinton whose bogus story about her one-woman assault on Bosnia that snatched the biggest headlines.

The following day, on March 18th, after weeks of facing attacks regarding his relationship with Wright, Obama gave his sweeping speech on race in Philadelphia.
I’m sure, at the time, McCain didn’t mind the flurry of negative coverage Wright’s antics caused.

But now, the McCain camp finds flaws in the adulation of crowds and world leaders who’ve praised Obama.

Where were the three network anchors at ABC, CBS and NBC when McCain took off on one of his own publicity tours? That could present clear proof the big three networks are against him and for Obama, they keep reminding us.

But that’s nonsense. Last Monday, real proof that it was nonsense was made public.

The non-partisan Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University released a scientific study that indicates all of that carping about a “liberal” bias in favor of Obama is off the mark.

The center analyzed 249 election news stories between June 8th and July 21st on the main news shows at the big three networks and at Fox News. It found that Obama got 72% NEGATIVE coverage, compared to 28% positive coverage. While, at the same time, McCain only got 57% negative coverage, compared to 43% positive.

Predictably, Fox News Special Report’s numbers for Obama were even worse. Obama got 79% negative coverage there.

Too much supposed favorable media attention is one thing. But there has been a swell of negative media drivel about how “Obama acts like he’s already been elected president” that is quite troubling.

So what, he looks good in a suit walking the hallways of foreign capitals with heads-of-state who seem quite at ease in his company.

To some conservative pundits and Republicans in general, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is really being too presumptuous.

Hogwash. What they’d really like to say, but they dare not say it, is Obama DOESN’T KNOW HIS PLACE.

Confidence, to some people, will always look to others like arrogance. I know this first hand. I’ve felt the desire on the parts of some people for me to show humility, just because I’ve entered the room. I’m sure Obama has felt that too.

But he’s certainly smart enough to understand those are the same people who’d complain about his entrance, except if it were in leg irons.

The current term du jour – HUBRIS - is nothing more than the word UPPITY, used by people who want to keep their jobs.

If the complaint is that Obama’s speeches have a certain lilt, well, they are what they are. Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” That’s something those 200 thousand Germans would not have agreed with.

Another American president, John Kennedy, once confidently said of his potential presidency, “Sure it's a big job. But I don't know anyone who can do it better than I can.”

That’s Confidence. What’s wrong with that?