President Obama’s Continued World Tour

If you haven’t caught Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank’s column today, I encourage you to do so. Milbank, employing his dry sense of humor, parodies the presumptive Democratic nominee for president and his increasingly confident attitude. What isn’t as amusing is that it seems that Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) seems to believe and bask in his own press. Consider the following:

In remarks to Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday, Sen. Obama noted: “This is the moment … that the world is waiting for,” adding: “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.” Alas, where to begin?

What, pray tell, is the moment the world has been waiting for? Obama’s candidacy? His coronation in the press, which has anointed him as the Second Coming? How about “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions”? The unabashed hubris and level of arrogance are just astounding to me. For all of his narcissistic tendencies, I could never imagine former President Bill Clinton uttering such a stunning phrase.

Sen. Obama is a remarkable politician, no question about it. He has channeled the anxiety of millions of Americans into a well-organized and choreographed campaign that is the envy of his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). Yet, for all of the exuberance and confidence the junior senator from Illinois is displaying these days, the race is nowhere close to being over.

Sen. Obama would be well-advised to stop measuring the drapes and directing his staff to begin discussions on his transition into office. The election is still 100 days away — an eternity in today’s political climate. Americans do not like spoiled and entitled politicians — the winds of change can quickly blow in the other direction and cast the Obama candidacy in a new light. I suspect Milbank’s column is the beginning of the end of the media’s honeymoon with Sen. Obama and his campaign staff.

Let’s see if Mr. Obama’s jaw is made of glass or steel once the press begins to portray the candidate and his campaign in a less than flattering manner.