Obama’s Awful International Trip (?)
on July 29, 2008 at 9:48 amI take some pride in being one of the few commentators to note at the time how disastrous Obama’s awful speech on race would become. It was clear to me at the time that the bad effects of the speech would hurt Obama in the primaries, and possibly the general election. The speech was especially damaging considering how March began with the perfect opportunity for Obama to codemn affirmative-action… and opportunity he spit in the face. Dean Barrett suggests Obama’s recent trip abroad may cause similar damage:
The Weekly Standard
The Rasmussen tracking poll also suggests that the long term impact of the Talking Tour will harm Obama. An initial bump from the trip that swelled Obama’s lead to eight points at the end of last week has vanished. Today, the lead has shrunk to one.What’s especially problematic for Obama is there’s no obvious way for him to undo the damage of his Talking Tour. If he suddenly decides that he should value David Petraeus’ opinion rather than publicly minimize it, his insincerity will be transparent. And it’s impossible for him to unring the bell of talking 40 minutes of One World gibberish to a bunch of swooning Germans.
Obama may have lost another opportunity. In March, Obama had the opportunity to distance himsefl from race-based politics. Instead, he embraced it And in July, Obama had the opportunity to support General Petreaus. Instead, he spoke proudly of arguing with him – of holding “animated discussion” with the man who oversaw MNF-Iraq during the Surge, the Anbar Awakening, and what may be the triumphant moments of the Iraq War.
