The Victory Lap Ends… Barack Obama came home this week after his “World Tour” in which he celebrated his impending election as President of the United States of America.
     This was so momentous and historic an event that the three network news anchors accompanied him on the voyage …only to find that his “availabilities” to the press were going to be rather limited.
     In making this trip Obama stood some traditional notions on their head. One is the notion of the “Middle East fact-finding trip.” Obama found the facts first and then took them East to educate the leaders there on what the situations are in Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel. It went down pretty well with al-Maliki in Iraq. He endorsed Obama’s 16-month troop withdrawal plan. Thanks to The Surge, which defeated the insurgency, shattered Al Qaeda in Iraq and crippled the Shiite militias, leaving Iraq in 16 months now looks kind of doable.
      That’s no excuse, however, for reporters to try to embarrass Obama by asking him if, had he known then what he knows now, he would have supported the Surge. Of course not, he answered, since his way –to start to withdraw two years ago—might have worked better!
      I do not make this stuff up. As Casey Stengel used to say, “You can look it up…”

     Berlin was always to be the highlight of the Victory Lap… Two of the past century’s most recognizable moments of presidential triumph took place in Berlin, at the Brandenburg Gate (which stood where communist East Berlin was walled off from West Berlin). It was where JFK declared “Ich bin ein Berliner,” (which translates into “I am a jelly doughnut,” a “Berliner” –but Kennedy’s noble heart was in the right place) and Ronald Reagan demanded, “Mr. Gorbachev: Tear down that wall!”
     Strong stuff. Strong presidential stuff. Obama wanted his moment at the Brandenburg Gate too.
     Slight difficulty, the Germans pointed out, JFK and Ronald Reagan were Presidents of the United States when they made their speeches. Kennedy and Reagan had both demonstrated, forcefully, that they would put the security of their own countries on the line in defense of freedom. The people of Berlin and of Germany understood this. This knowledge and background is what gives those precious moments in history their force and meaning. As tactfully as possible, the Germans indicated to Obama that he would have to be President, or have achieved something to stand in the spotlight hitherto reserved for Kennedy and Reagan.

    Obama did speak… but it was an odd affair all around. As one German official put it, you would never see a German candidate give an election campaign speech on the Mall in Washington, with the Capitol or the Lincoln Memorial as a background. So what wasa Obama doing in Berlin? When the question was put to a campaign aide, the aide retorted that it wasn’t a political speech; that when the President of the United States speaks overseas it is never a political speech… At which point a reporter mildly interjected that Obama isn’t the President…yet.
     Instead of the Brandenburg Gate, Obama got the Victory Column relocated onto a traffic circle by Hitler during his redesign of Berlin. About a half million people turned out to hear Obama, and each was served a nice bowl of oratorical oatmeal. Obama uttered platitudes against walls that divide different peoples (the Berlin Wall divided Germans..ahem!), joked that he was probably not the kind of American official they were used to seeing (unless they had seen Colin Powell or Condi Rice), boasted he was a citizen of the world, and led a chorus or two of “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” (okay, I made that last item up). Even to claim he was a jelly doughnut would have made a more lasting impression.
     Der Spiegel, Germany’s leading news publication summed it up: "Huge Crowds Left with Mixed Feelings." The visuals were nice though.

     Obama may have thrown a brief snit fit while in Germany... Just before he was to go to the U.S. Military hospital in Landsthul to visit some severely injured G.I.s he was reminded by the Department of Defense that his visit would have to conform to DoD regulations. The rules are that no campaigning is allowed using the wounded soldiers as props for a visual. To his credit, Obama had already dis-invited the press to accompany him. When told he could not bring any of his campaign staff. He cancelled out completely.
    In a press release the campaign explained that Obama “decided out of respect for these servicemen and women that it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign.” McCain’s retort was that it is never inappropriate for a public official to visit wounded soldiers.
     If Obama had shown up alone to pay his respects to our wounded soldiers. I am sure it would have been as big a thrill for them as it would have been if he had brought his speechwriters, photographers and spin doctors.
     On the whole, however, I have to rate Obama’s trip a success. He looked presidential while McCain looked like a bag of sand –if you could see him at all.