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ANCHORS AWAY

Barack Obama's upcoming swing through Europe and the Middle East is now guaranteed to be a major media event, certified by the presence of the three network anchors.

Katie Couric (I thought she was about to get to get the boot) Brian Williams and Charlie Gibson and will travel overseas next week, lured by the prospect of interviews with the presumed Democratic candidate. That means the NBC, ABC and CBS newscasts will originate from stops on the trip and pump the heck out Obama and his travels. So is this warranted coverage of a big story or just plain media super-circus? I figure it’s a big dollop of both.

At any rate “the big three” (if those once exalted positions at ABC, CBS and NBC can still be called that) will certainly get their “exclusive” interviews with the candidate, probably on successive nights in different countries. So you’ve got the idea: the Obama camp is in a win-win-win situation by dragging the anchor trio half way around the world merely by offering access.

Obama has been quite adept at working the media. He is on the cover of this week's Newsweek, again, after star turns on Us Weekly, "Access Hollywood" (with kids—which he claimed to late regret) and, not so happily, the New Yorker. More about that in a moment.

What a contrast between the media feeding frenzy surrounding Obama… and the real lack of coverage John McCain's campaign has been getting. The difference is striking. For instance, when McCain went to Britain, France and Israel and met with their leaders in March, no network anchors tagged along. It was left to the correspondent on NBC and ABC. CBS couldn’t even be bothered doing that. Again it was NBC and ABC that sent correspondents only to McCain’s Columbia trip two weeks ago. CBS? Absent.

EVERY BIGOT’S POSTER

Most Americans really don’t know much about The New Yorker – other than it exists and perhaps that it is has long employed distinguished cartoonists. The mag’s often high handed liberalism came through in one of those drawings week… the cover art, shown here. Wow did this ever stir up the blogosphere, talk radio and water cooler talk!

The cover crudely caricatures Barack and Michelle Obama as Osama bin Laden-honoring terrorists bumping fists in the Oval Office as an American Flag burns in the fireplace. It was tasteless and crude and even though The New Yorkers’ editors claimed their readers would “get it,” most everyone was offended. That included McCain. The Obamas had to be both angry and embarrassed.

The cover plays to the ill-gotten views of 12 percent of Americans who erroneously think Obama is a Muslim. And it’s sure to wind up as a poster on every bigot's wall.

CRANKING UP THE CONTRAST

Barack Obama has found something that eluded him during the primary season — contrast. Contrast with John McCain. And Obama is doing a much better job of playing it up. He’s even basking in it.

In McCain, Obama faces an opponent who is the opposite of him in every way — an Iraq war backer who supports free-market economics, opposes abortion rights and is a Republican. Obama delights in pointing out the differences and, so far, is doing a pretty effective job of it.

This isn’t to say that McCain isn’t trying the same tack. But by continuing to link McCain with Bush, Obama is better able to aggressively and enthusiastically go after his foe. This certainly is a turn around from the months when he was squaring off with Hillary Clinton, a fellow Democrat with whom he actually differs little.

These days, Obama assails McCain's position on the issues every chance he gets. He levels his charges with a commonsense tone and lighthearted touch that couches the criticism while making his core argument: McCain and President Bush are the same. And that’s an argument should be making if he is doing to sell himself, especially to Independent and even some moderate Republican voters.

Obama also is taking full advantage of the openings McCain presents. Take his response to McCain ally Senator Phil Gramm’s read that the United States is "a nation of whiners" in a "mental recession," Obama jumped on the Gramm-gram to portray McCain as out of touch.

This audience ate up Obama's criticism of McCain — just like his crowds do every day. McCain and his top people should be learning from that.

I'll blog at you again on Fri Jul 25.

Bob_Tarlau's Blog

THIS POLITICAL WEEK

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