Obama’s Popularity Abroad, a Blessing or a Curse?

I can only listen to the Limbaugh show a little bit at a time.

Yesterday morning was one of those “little bits,” and I immediately noticed an unusually shrill, angry, agitated tone in the voice of the man on loan from Godddddd.

His ranting appeared to be directed at, among other, the huge media attention Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is receiving during his overseas tour: the “planeloads” of “drive-by media”—or perhaps it should be the fly-by media—accompanying Obama; the attentive and enthusiastic reception he is getting from foreign leaders, the public, and especially from our own military while in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But most of Limbaugh’s ire was directed at Senator Obama personally—a man he mockingly called the “Messiah”, insulted as a “jerk”, and for whom he used every other slur in-between.

Well, it appears that Limbaugh is not alone these days in expressing frustration at the popularity and respect the U.S. presidential candidate, “the jerk,” is getting abroad. There are scores of pundits–and McCain staff—who are reacting in similar ways and ascribing the phenomenon to a variety of reasons—some plausible, some ridiculous, and some just plain insulting to the foreigners who sincerely like and admire Obama and to their native countries, most of them our own allies.

Some, however, are very slyly trying to turn Obama’s popularity abroad into a negative, a liability, a “black mark.”

Arianna Huffington published a very interesting article on this very same subject yesterday.

In “Tell Me Again, Why Is Obama Being Popular With Our Allies a Bad thing?” she asks, “I understand why John McCain’s campaign is desperately looking for negatives in Obama’s overseas trip. But why have so many in the media internalized the McCain campaign’s claptrap?” and examines some of the amazing reactions and allegations. Here are some:

Here is the McCain line on Europe, delivered via Politico by a nameless campaign aide: “I don’t know that people in Missouri are going to like seeing tens of thousands of Europeans screaming for The One.”

And here was Gloria Borger on CNN […] “…as the McCain campaign points out, he can’t appear to be seen as running for the president of Europe. He’s going to be really cheered in Europe, he’s going to give a huge speech. He’s going to have a lot of support there. But he’s running for the president of the United States. And so they have to walk a very, very fine line here because they don’t want to be seen having too many adoring people after him in Europe because he’s running for president of the United States.”

And,

L.A. Times’ Michael Finnegan:
In Europe, where he is highly popular, Obama plans a speech in Berlin on U.S. relations with allies. He will probably find a warm, even rapturous, reception — which poses its own challenges. ‘There’s such a thing as being too popular overseas,’ said [William] Galston, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. ‘And that may create some misgivings here at home.’

Of course, in my humble opinion, all this rhetoric is pure spin, sour grapes, envy, and worse.

But, again, Huffington says it best:

What do Borger and the McCain campaign think would play better in Missouri, Obama getting off the plane in Germany and having the locals throw tomatoes at him? Would that endear him to the people in Middle America — who, in McCain World, are like an insecure girlfriend, panicked by just the thought of someone else finding their guy attractive?

And,

…as Jason Linkins points out, George Bush keeps giving them reasons for ongoing disdain and ridicule. As does McCain. Is it really better for America’s standing in the world to have a president who doesn’t know that Czechoslovakia no longer exists and who thinks there is a border between Iraq and Pakistan?

Let the partisans and naysayers continue to rant. I for one am delighted that America—as represented by one of its presidential candidates–is finally beginning to regain the respect and friendship that we have lost during the past seven-plus, long years!