Report Card: Not So Good

The President’s trip abroad is not over, but the results so far are less than exciting. I would give the following grades:

• US Media – F The American media continues its slobbering love affair with Obama by overlooking gaffes and misrepresenting facts. They happily reported that Obama received promises of 5,000 troops from NATO countries to help in Afghanistan. In reality England will send “hundreds”, Spain will send 450, and Italy will send 700. Unless, England’s “hundreds” turn out to be 3,850, that hardly adds up to 5,000. Plus they will only be deployed until the August elections in Afghanistan are over. And the media ignores the fact that he asked for 21,000 additional troops from NATO allies.

• Press Conference Without Teleprompter – F The far left English Guardian reported he ummd and ahhhd for two and half minutes while responding to an unexpected question from a BBC editor about who was to blame for the financial crisis. Apparently he’s only a great orator when reading speeches, not when speaking.

• Understanding History, Even Recent History – F He chose Czechoslovakia, a nation that broke away from nuclear powered USSR, to present his grandiose plan to do away with nuclear weapons. He apologized for the US arsenal of nuclear weapons; yet the very existence of those powerful weapons deterred the USSR for almost 50 years.

• Gift to the Queen of England – C- I’m not sure she really wanted to replay Obama’s speeches or desired another recording of her last trip to the States.

• Bowing to King Abdullah – F His spontaneous gesture of fealty was both embarrassing and frightening. Our own media considered Michelle’s clothes much more important, so we only learned of it from foreign media.

• G-20 Summit – D It could have been worse, although no leadership from this administration was apparent. Keith Hennessey has an analysis.

• “Dissing” America – F He not only lied about Bush by saying that Abu Ghraib was the Iraq strategy instead of an aberration, but he dismissed the blood and treasure the US has repeatedly spent to save Europe from itself.

• Reaction to North Korean Missile Launch – F He slipped in a phrase about setting up a global regime in his grandiose response. Does anyone really believe that a UN on steroids would be any better?