WHAT a week it was for Barack Obama! He arrived on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on July 19th the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and so successfully leveraged his presumption that he landed back in the US a little over a week later presumably ready for the Inauguration Ball. And he sent home lots of postcards to the folks back in the US. There he was in helicopter rides over Iraq with General Petraeus, visits to US troops in Afghanistan, meetings, and more importantly photo ops, with heads of state in Europe and the Middle East, a press conference at the ancient Temple of Hercules in Jordan, and of course the fabulous talk concert in Berlin in front of 200,000 rapturous fans overlooked by a 200-foot high column topped by a 25-foot Golden Goddess of Victory wings spread in triumph. The visit to Paris, of course, had to be limited to four hours so as not to offend those American voters who still eat ‘Freedom Fries,' but at the Elysee Palace there was a private meeting and a joint press conference with the President of France at which Obama was literally “The Tops” as he Eiffel towered over the diminutive Nicolas Sarkozy. Finally, on to London for meetings and photos with British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, ex-Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and Conservative Party leader, David Cameron. Not bad for a week in the political doldrums of July with more than a month to go before either candidate is actually nominated and half a political lifetime to go before the general election. And of course it didn't hurt that Obama's entire Grand Tour was made available 24/7 by the army of news media that followed in his wake with the news anchors of all three major networks along for the ride and thus all out of the country at the same time. So with no one around to report the news, it was hard in the US last week to find a way to grab some of the media spotlight which was shinning so brightly overseas. And that was exactly the problem faced by John McCain. Complaining of media bias, McCain made it clear that Naval Academy graduate though he was, “Anchors Away” (so to speak) was not his favorite tune. Instead, his campaign team produced a popular YouTube spot playing up the media's love affair with Obama which contained clips of fawning, gooey Obama news coverage to the strains of the old Frankie Valli hit, “Can't Take My Eyes Off of You.” They may have missed the boat by not emphasizing the first line of the song, “You're just too good to be true.” However, it remains unclear if McCain was even able to access the YouTube site since he has admitted that he is still trying to learn how to “do a Google”? In an attempt to wrest at least part of the spotlight away from the imperial Obama road show, McCain did have one good thought. Apparently, his campaign leaked the possibility that he would use the week to name his choice for Vice President. This got a bit of play and then it was also leaked that he would not be naming the VP just yet and that got a bit of attention as well. But, as the naming of the Republican Vice Presidential nominee is one of the very few cards that McCain has up his sleeve at the moment, it would have been crazy to do it when practically anyone capable of conducting an interview or holding a camera steady was on the other side of the world. It was always clear that it was a sort of fake pass, but a nice try all the same. Other than that, McCain visited a German restaurant (in Ohio) while Obama was addressing 200,000 German citizens in the real country, and in answer to a question, McCain said that he would love to give a speech in Germany, but would prefer to do it as President of the United States, not as a candidate. And the Republican National Committee cutely ran political radio ads in American towns with the same names as the cities Obama was visiting: Berlin, Pennsylvania; Paris, Maine; London, West Virginia. But it all seemed a trifle desperate. Yet, after McCain had goaded (there is no other word for it) Obama into making the trip, could he really complain that Obama went and made the best of it, and McCain's claim that Obama's week away ignored pressing domestic issues faced by Americans rang just a bit false. So, it was not so much about media bias as it was about news. And last week, at least, Obama was news and hot, and McCain was not and not. And yes, of course, all of Obama's trip was meticulously orchestrated as a media event. Forget all of the fact finding mission part of it, since he could have found more facts in his local public library. It was about burnishing or rather developing some foreign policy credentials, by having photos taken in foreign capitals with recognizable foreign dignitaries who are involved in serious foreign issues: Postcards to America. The showpiece image of the tour was originally meant to be Obama's oration in front of the Brandenburg Gate, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel was having none of it. An Obama spokesman said that it would be presumptuous for the speech to be held there, but it was not entirely clear if that was before or after the Chancellor demurred. We will have to wait and see with Obama in the White House, what Ms. Merkel's chances would be of using a rally at the Washington Monument for a postcard of her own during the next German election. So, yes, it was all about images and keeping the spotlight on yourself last week. But was the media biased towards Obama? Well, stuff happens, as Donald Rumsfeld (remember him?) once so elegantly pointed out, but political news is made, and Obama made news last week and McCain did not. However, after every holiday is long over, there are only a few photos or postcards that we actually save. Perhaps the overriding juxtaposition of images of the past week and the one that will remain in the popular memory was of Obama flying over Iraq in a military helicopter looking purposeful, earnest, and knowledgeable, contrasted with McCain in Kennebunkport, Me being driven around in a golf cart by 84-year old ex-President George H.W. Bush. And that underlines the real issue of media coverage last week: What was the news? Obama's presumptive presidential posturing on a global stage before adoring crowds with world leaders as second bananas or McCain being wheeled around in a golf cart by a long retired ex-President who is not old enough to be his father? __
