Obama Abroad: We Get the Picture
The Candidate Looked Good This Week. Did the Press?
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 25, 2008; C01

After saying little in public during a weekend in Iraq and Afghanistan, Barack Obama met with traveling reporters near Jordan’s Temple of Hercules, a gladiator standing his ground against the media hordes.

But even as the likes of NBC’s Andrea Mitchell and ABC’s Jake Tapper rose to press the Democratic candidate on Tuesday, television viewers back home heard nothing but faint voices in the wind. The journalists weren’t miked; only Obama’s answers came through loud and clear.

That may have been unintentional, but it underscored the degree to which Obama has controlled the message — and, more important, the pictures — during his exhaustively chronicled trek across the Middle East and Europe. Obama meeting the troops, meeting the generals, meeting prime ministers and kings, drawing a huge crowd in Berlin yesterday — the images trump whatever journalists write and say.

In short, though Obamapalooza was not quite the lovefest that some expected, news outlets provided a spotlight so bright that their own people were left in the shadows.

“The pictures bring people into the story,” says Jerry Rafshoon, who was President Jimmy Carter’s media adviser. “In the television age, the more people who can see him in the role of commander in chief, the better it is for him.” By contrast, Rafshoon says, when John McCain was seen riding around Kennebunkport in a golf cart with former president George H.W. Bush, “you’re seeing him with his generation, the older generation. They looked like the past.”

Dorrance Smith, President Bush’s former Pentagon spokesman and a onetime ABC News producer, agreed that “the pictures have dominated. . . . In a campaign, that’s as good as gold. The pictures would have broken through whether there was a one-camera pool or every anchor in the world.”

Beyond the images, most journalists and pundits have depicted the trip as an unalloyed triumph. “A slam-dunk success,” in the words of Time’s Joe Klein; “a real grand slam,” as Salon Editor Joan Walsh put it on “Hardball.”

Obama became increasingly accessible as the week wore on. He held a second news conference in Israel, granted interviews to Time and Newsweek, and agreed to sit-downs through the weekend with CNN, Fox and “Meet the Press.” Beyond that, he did something he rarely does: joking around with reporters on his plane.

Singling out New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd yesterday, Obama said: “What are you guys going to do in Berlin? Huh? Dowd? You got any big plans?”

He brushed aside a scribe’s suggestion that he would attract “a million screaming Germans. Let’s tamp down expectations here.”

One reporter lowered the estimate to 900,000; another said, “Let’s start a pool.”

“We could!” Obama said.

While the scene looked cozy, the reporters asked substantive foreign-policy questions in more formal settings. And the three network anchors, whose presence came to symbolize complaints that the media were blanketing the trip as if it were a state visit, earned their paychecks.

CBS’s Katie Couric repeatedly pressed Obama on why he wouldn’t acknowledge the military success of Bush’s surge in Iraq. ABC’s Charlie Gibson asked about public sentiment that he’s inexperienced and challenged him about changing his position on the status of Jerusalem, questioning whether that was a “rookie mistake.” NBC’s Brian Williams invoked a poll finding that a majority of Americans view him as the riskier choice for president. All three newscasts, whether out of guilt or a sense of fairness, also featured interviews with McCain.

All week, McCain was asked whether the media were favoring Obama. He deflected the question with the mantra: “It is what it is.”

The loudly debated charge that news organizations are fawning over the Obama trip — especially when contrasted with the meager attention paid to McCain’s foreign travels — seeped into the coverage itself.

“This has got to be very frustrating for John McCain . . . that he wants to make his points, he wants to get coverage, and yet everything seems to swarm around Barack Obama,” Gibson told viewers. Couric, playing a clip from a McCain video mocking the media for swooning over the Illinois Democrat, asked, “Will the summer of love last?”

There were some dust-ups. Some reporters complained about the lack of a press pool in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the military orchestrated all pictures and public statements (the Obama camp says the schedule was packed and the Pentagon was in charge, although he did squeeze in interviews with CBS’s Lara Logan and ABC’s Terry Moran). When the campaign pitched a background briefing in Jordan with aides who could not be identified, the correspondents balked, saying only the White House could get away with that.

Still, the tone of the coverage sometimes bordered on gushing, as in this Associated Press dispatch before the appearance in Berlin:

“In this city where John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton all made famous speeches, Obama will find himself stepping into perhaps another iconic moment Thursday as his superstar charisma meets German adoration live in shadows of the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. He then travels to Paris and London where he can expect to be greeted with similar adulation.

“It’s not only Obama’s youth, eloquence and energy that have stolen hearts across the Atlantic. . . . Obama has raised expectations of a chance for the nation to redeem itself.”

A Rasmussen poll this week found that 49 percent of those surveyed expect the media to favor Obama this fall, while 14 percent expect favoritism toward McCain.

Not everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid. Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass wrote of the coverage: “McCain is now cast as the crabby uncle who visits and shrieks there’s no gin in your house,” while Obama is “busy fighting off throngs of reporters, a cast of thousands as urgent and impassioned as in those old Hollywood biblical epics.”

Ralph Begleiter, a former CNN correspondent who is now journalist in residence at the University of Delaware, says the notion that Obama was making real news — as opposed to exploiting pretty backdrops — is “a sham argument. Of course it’s a photo op. If he wanted to go to Afghanistan as a senator, he could have done it.”

An unspoken assumption is that Obama, who enjoys a slight lead in the polls, is the odds-on favorite to win. In an upcoming People cover story, a reporter asks the candidate and his wife, Michelle, about their daughters: “How are you preparing them for possible life in the White House?”

Some journalists defend the coverage as a matter of marketing: Obama is hot, McCain is not.

“The Obama phenomenon is so much the better story — an obscure African American senator from Illinois, little known to most Americans two years ago, emerges as very probably the next president,” says Terence Smith, a former correspondent for CBS and PBS. “That is a fantastic story. Of course it’s going to get two or three times the space and attention and airtime of John McCain, who, while he may be a very appealing semi-maverick on his bus, is a much more conventional candidate.”

By that standard, though, journalists can continue to lavish more coverage on Obama simply by declaring him a more fascinating guy.

Chris Wallace, host of “Fox News Sunday,” says no one has to apologize for covering the “extraordinary” trip. And, he says, “there is no question in my mind there is more interest in Obama. It’s the news business; you want to sell magazines. Some of it is flavor of the month. And there is some bias.”

But overall, says Wallace, “I don’t know that that’s a good excuse. One would hope there would be rough parity in the coverage.”

The power of stirring images was on display again yesterday in Berlin. Moments after finishing his speech at the Victory Column, as 200,000 Germans cheered, Obama strolled off with Brian Williams, camera crew in tow, to talk about what had just transpired.

===============

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JOHN MCCAIN
As Obama Visits Germany, McCain Visits German Restaurant

By Michael D. Shear
Sen. Barack Obama was in Berlin today, for a lofty speech to throngs of people about the roots of American-German cooperation and the development of freedom in the world.

Sen. John McCain went to Schmidt’s Restaurant und Sausage Haus.

Located in the German Village section of Columbus, Ohio, the classic restaurant is owned by 58-year-old Geoff Schmidt, the fourth Schmidt to offer what his to go menu claims is “The Best of the Wurst!”

McCain had lunch with Schmidt, picking from a menu that included: Hoffbraii Schnitzel ($12.50), Haus Sauerbraten und Gravy ($12.50) and Wiener schnitzel und Gravy ($14.75). There are also five “Signature Sausage Platters,” all of which are “served over hot kraut with German
Potato Salad, Chunky Applesauce and Split Top bun.

Before lunch — according to the pool report — he asked about dessert.

MCCAIN: “Can we have a coupla cream puffs to go too?”

SCHMIDT: “Oh well, get ‘em. Oh yeah. Peanut butter or chocolate or…”

MCCAIN: “Chocolate.”

SCHMIDT: “Chocolate.”

MCCAIN: “Chocolate.”

Asked whether he was trying to make a point by coming to a German restaurant while Obama was in the real country, McCain took a mild swipe at his rival.

“Well I’d love to give a speech in Germany to — a political speech — or a speech that maybe the German people would be interested in. But I would much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for the office of the presidency.”

McCain promised to continue campaigning across the country on issues like offshore oil drilling. He was supposed to have been in Louisiana today, visiting an oil rig to emphasize his support for America’s need to produce more energy at home.

“I’m sorry we were unable to go to an offshore oil rig because I think the drilling off shore is a vital step in addressing the price of oil and America’s energy needs and I hope that Senator Obama will change his position and support offshore drilling. We need to do it,” he said.

====================

McCain May Act Soon on VP Pick
Aides Predict Announcement Before Olympics
By Michael D. Shear and Robert Barnes
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 25, 2008; A01

Anxious to counter the blanket media coverage that has followed Sen. Barack Obama on his overseas journey, Sen. John McCain is weighing whether to announce his running mate in the coming weeks before the spotlight shifts to China and the opening of the Olympic Games next month.

“He’s in a position to make [the decision] on short notice if he wanted to,” said Charles R. Black Jr., one of McCain’s top political advisers.

Two top aides to the presumptive Republican nominee said the decision is likely to be announced after Obama returns from Europe on Sunday and before the Beijing Olympics begin Aug. 8. They said the campaign fears that unanticipated events coming out of China — whether in the form of athletic accomplishments or human rights protests — could deflect attention from the announcement if it were made during the Games.

The Olympics conclude the day before the Democratic nominating convention opens in Denver, and the GOP convention begins in Minneapolis-St. Paul just four days after the Democratic gathering ends.

Aides to the most likely candidates to join McCain on the ticket, meanwhile, offered terse “no comment” replies when asked whether they have been asked to provide documents that the campaign can use to vet backgrounds.

The list of likely contenders includes former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former U.S. budget director Rob Portman and former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge.

Asked several questions about the selection process, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom repeatedly declined to comment. Representatives for Portman, Jindal and Pawlenty also would not say whether they have provided documents to McCain aides.

Ridge, a close friend of McCain’s, said in an interview that he has had no conversations with the senator or his staff about being a running mate.

“I have not. I can only be interested if John is,” Ridge said Tuesday. “I’m not lobbying for it. I’m not seeking it.”

Ridge, who was first elected to Congress in 1982, at the same time McCain came to Washington, bonded with the Arizona Republican as a fellow Vietnam War veteran. He has been considered as a potential running mate before, providing vetting documents during the 2000 campaign to Richard B. Cheney, who was handling the selection process for then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

In the end, it was Cheney who was chosen.

This year, McCain has tapped Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr., chairman of the Washington law firm O’Melveny & Meyers and a counsel to President Ronald Reagan, to oversee the selection of a running mate. Culvahouse has declined requests to comment, and McCain has been circumspect on the topic.

“I can’t comment on it,” McCain told reporters as he traveled through Wisconsin last week. He promised to describe his search process after it is over, declining to elaborate before then. “I don’t think it’s fair to the people we are considering,” he said.

Asked this week about Pawlenty, McCain again declined to comment on the governor’s standing in the search but quickly ticked off a list of attributes that would argue for his selection.

“He’s a great, fine person,” McCain said. “Reelected in one of the toughest reelection years in the history of the Republican Party. His father, I am pretty sure, drove a truck. He has been pretty successfully . . . able to work across the aisle in Minnesota with the Democrats.”

Pawlenty was in Washington this week, conducting media interviews on behalf of McCain and attending what the campaign described as “meetings” at McCain’s national headquarters in Arlington. Portman accompanied McCain to a fundraiser in Columbus, Ohio, yesterday.

Jindal appeared on Fox News this week to tamp down expectations, telling “Fox & Friends” that he intends to remain governor of Louisiana, a job he has held only since January.

“Let me be clear: I have said in every private and public conversation, I’ve got the job that I want,” Jindal said. “And I’ll say again on air: I’m not going to be the vice presidential nominee or vice president. I’m going to help Senator McCain get elected, as governor of Louisiana.”

Aides said Romney is vacationing this week with his family on the Canadian side of Lake Huron and is scheduled to be at his home in Wolfeboro, N.H., next week.

“What I can say is that there is a lot of guessing and speculation going on,” Fehrnstrom said. “Governor Romney expects to be campaigning for Senator McCain as a supporter of the ticket, not a member of the ticket.”

The timing of McCain’s announcement has been hotly debated within the Republican Party as he and Obama eye a calendar that is tightly packed with major national and international events.

This week, syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak wrote that McCain was poised to make an announcement before week’s end, but Novak later complained that he may have been used by aides to the McCain campaign to gin up attention for their candidate. If it was a ploy, it worked, as speculation about McCain’s vice presidential choice provided a rare news breakthrough for the senator during Obama’s overseas trip.

Many Republicans say the traditional time frame for an announcement — the days leading up to the GOP convention — is not practical this year, because the Democratic convention ends so soon before the Republican gathering. It’s unlikely, they said, that McCain would announce his pick the day after Obama gives his convention speech.

And several McCain aides said they oppose the idea of making a vice presidential announcement during the Olympics.

“It’s not that it wouldn’t get covered. But if you are looking for a calm sea and no waves . . . you don’t do it during the Olympics,” said one senior Republican adviser.

“We don’t know when some breakthrough performance will happen,” the adviser said. “All sorts of news can come. . . . What if there’s some sort of human rights protest?”

washingtonpost.com staff writer Chris Cillizza contributed to this report.

=============

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———————————–

Conservatives are Livid: Obama Printed Flyers for Speech in Germany IN GERMAN!
Posted by Gavin M, Sadly No! at 6:21 AM on July 24, 2008.

How dare a presidential candidate have the audacity to use any other language than American? Ever?!

Patrick Ruffini, another one of those puzzlingly well-placed Republican blogger-consultant-columnist-Webmaster-operatives, as well as a general all-around cigar cutter and Kool-Aid drug mule, thinks he’s found a good one:

Obama Campaign Prints German-language Flyers for Berlin Rally
by Patrick Ruffini | July 22, 2008 at 10:36 PM This is pretty extraordinary. A candidate for the American Presidency is using flyers printed in German to turn people out for his campaign rally in Berlin on Thursday. This flyer can be found on a bilingual page on BarackObama.com advertising the event:

The German flyers bear Obama’s campaign logo and say “Paid for by Obama for America.”

Get that? …For America! For America! But it’s in German!!!

I’m surprised at this lapse in judgment in an otherwise well-oiled and professional Obama campaign. The last time they printed up campaign paraphenalia in a foreign language, it didn’t work out so hot for them.

Here he’s referring to the tongue spoken in Lata, and also in its former colonies in Latin America. This attempt to pander to the Latts was widely derided by fellows such as Patrick Ruffini (whose name means “Patrick, the Little Ruff” in his native dialect of Miscegenated Catholic Immigrant). When English is declared as the official language of the United States, there’ll be no more of this ‘Novus Ordo Seclorum’ and ‘Semper Fidelis,’ not to mention ‘Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc’ or what’s that other one? Oh yeah, ‘E Pluribus Unum.’ It’s a veritable Tower of Babel; it’s tearing this country apart.

So, this isn’t just some sober, high-minded foreign policy speech, part of a foreign trip occurring under the auspices of his official Senate office. It is a campaign rally occuring on foreign soil. They are using the same tactics to turn out Germans to an event as they would to any rally right here in America.

Tactics like telling people where the event will be, and at what time.

This after Obama’s campaign said this: “It is not going to be a political speech,” said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. “When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally.

“But he is not president of the United States,” a reporter reminded the adviser.

And he therefore has no right to travel overseas and speak to foreigners. Has he forgotten that there are foreigners who want to kill us? This unconditional meeting-with-foreigners sends a dangerous message, emboldening those who have rejected America by choosing to back foreign regimes, etc.

The sea of Germans drummed up by the Obama campaign…

Are we alone in picturing the following?

Above: Screee-eee-eee!

…will be used as props to tell us Americans how to vote, and the campaign isn’t trying to pretend otherwise.

… As is demonstrated by the campaign saying otherwise without declaring it to be Backwards Day — because if it is Backwards Day, they must backwardsly not declare it to be; and you can see how their little scheme falls apart from there. Also noted: Whenever Germans do something, Americans are helpless not to follow. Cases in point: Klaus Nomi, Zungenwurst, der Urin-Therapie.

But the campaign is clearly attempting to make it seem as if Obama can attract an audience, using the crowds that attend Obama events as pawns in their crooked game. These cynical attempts to make the candidate look good, and thus to tell us how to vote, are beyond the bounds of acceptable discourse.

On the other hand [heh heh], do you know who else used to drum up a sea of Germans to be used as props, and who did not try to pretend otherwise? [heh heh] I’m not going to say, but he sure did cause quite a “furor.” [heh heh]

That’s breathtakingly arrogant, and par for the course for Barack Obama.

So to sum up: The sea of Germans drummed up will be used as props, and while this is breathtaking, it is par for the course. That would be a geographic metaphor, a music or sales metaphor, a stage or film metaphor, a metaphor based on a bodily sensation, and then a golf metaphor, all smashed together like the cars of a wrecked circus train.

Yes, we’ll go for the cheap shot. ‘Arrogance’ is writing a broadside like Ruffini’s, and doing it in such crappy English.

Update: Ruffini responds via Twitter:

Anyone who thinks that the issue is a German flyer in Germany is a nitwit. The issue is electioneering on foreign soil and personality cult

Anyone who thinks we’ve been making fun of Patrick Ruffini’s political utterings is a nitwit. The issue is shiny suits and ‘the wet look’

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