"And I... feeeeel like I've... been here before...."

I never watch network TV news, there are too many other sources of news that aren't propaganda mills.

So... I've seen little of the tape of the Middle East leg of Obama's trip, except I did see poorly-shot tape of him in Baghdad shooting baskets (is there a bigger racial stereotype?).

My second thought was, what's a basketball court doing on a military base in the war zone?   

But to the point... I just read this transcript this morning from blowhard Chris Matthews' show:

ANDREA MITCHELL: Let me just say something about the message management.  He didn't have reporters with him, he didn't have a press pool, he didn't do a press conference while he was on the ground in either Afghanistan or Iraq. What you're seeing is not what reporters brought in.  You're seeing selected pictures taken by the military, questions by the military, and what some would call fake interviews, because they're not interviews from a journalist. 

So, there's a real press issue here.  Politically it's smart as can be.  But we've not seen a presidential candidate do this, in my recollection, ever before.

Let that sink in: no reporters, not even the minimal-to-moderate chance of objective information. Why isn't every reporter bitching about being cut out of the process? Where's the journalistic outrage?

Good questions. The answer is obvious, but the real question here is will McCain be able to fight Obama and the combined forces of hundreds of millions from 527s, and the entire, in-the-tank leftist news media arrayed against him?

Bush was able to do so twice but he was running against poorer candidates both times. The left vowed this time to elect somebody, anybody with all left-of-center elements of this nation are working together. 

Sieg Heil?

Obama wants to focus the "image value" of his entire trip on the Berlin appearance where he's planning to film his speech at The Victory Column. I suppose an impressive crowd would be 40,000+; chances are he'll probably achieve that.

But it doesn't matter... a crowd of even 20,000, if shot and edited right, will give him enough good footage for impactful, presidential-looking video from now until November. 

And just whether oh where would a third-rate pol from Chi-town tap into high-level film editing and special effects expertise? You know the answer.

This was all explained before in a forgettable movie,"Wag The Dog."

And before that it was called "Triumph of the Will" in which propagandist Leni Riefenstahl chronicled the rise of the Nazi Party in 1934.

It was and remains brilliantly shot and directed, but the credits roll you have the answer to the question:

"Why didn't someone stop him in the first place?"

A large part of the reason was that the world press was in the tank for the former community organizer from Austria. 

And before the permanently panty-twisted stroke out, I'm not doing what the left does, demonizing someone as the best-known fascist genocidal creation from the depths of Hell.

Rather I am comparing two small-time highly unqualified politicians, surrounded a coterie of fawning sycophants who rose to the top of their respective parties with grandiose plans they promised would transform their nations.

As did the former corporal, the former ACORN operative possesses solid oratory skills (except he didn't need a tele-prompter); both overcame the stigma of being "political outsiders" by criticizing the status quo and promising a brave new world in which the government would care for the masses from cradle to gave.   

So successful was The National Socialists' propaganda that not only did Hitler unite the Germans, he envisioned a new world order with the the Germanic peoples in charge.

Sadly, millions of Germans were seduced by such promises, foreign leaders such as Britain's Neville Chamberlain believed the facade and not the dark reality. Joe Kennedy and even The Lone Eagle, Charles Lindbergh, were in the tank for the distasteful, strutting little man; thousands of Americans emulated the National Socialists with brown-shirt uniforms, swastika armbands and heated rhetorical.

 The National Socialists co-opted the German military over the years, and the party's SS or ''Shield Squadron" was a civilian counterpart which would eventually wield great power, both politically and militarily; it was "an army within the army" which, like its leader finally ran completely amok. 

Barack Obama: July 2--Colorado Springs:

"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set," he said. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded."

Obama said that he wants to "integrate civilian and military capabilities to promote global democracy and development."  This would include the creation of "Mobile Development Teams (MDTs) that bring together personnel from the military, the Pentagon, the State Department and USAID, fully integrating U.S. government efforts in counter-terror, state-building, and post-conflict operations."

As well, he would also "establish an expeditionary capability" for non-Pentagon agencies, including the departments of State, Homeland Security, Justice and Treasury.

There's much more... it's all been done before.

Comments

[Fire@will]

Mr. Obama is the ultimate example of "form over substance".

Which is scarier? An Obama Presidency... or that so many voters could be gullible enough to elect him?

Raised white, he has recently discovered his "black roots" to get elected. He recently discovered his life long minister was a bigot. If elected, will he discover his Muslim roots as well?

Scary guy. No experience. Blind ambition. Extremely Liberal. Way too many unknowns.