A Presumptuous Presumptive Democratic Nominee Could Lose in November

Toby Harnden, US editor of the Daily Telegraph of London, has a word of warning for the Democratic party’s presumptive nominee, Barack Obama. Harnden begins:

“There was a spring in Barack Obama's step and a sense of heady excitement in the air as he took to the stage beside Berlin's Victory column for his latest Big Speech. Members of his expansive entourage could have been forgiven for dreaming about the West Wing offices they will occupy in January.

“By any yardstick, the first half of the Illinois senator's foreign tour was everything his campaign staff had wished for and a little bit more. Wherever he went, world leaders wanted to bask in his reflected glory as the presumed next president.”

Harnden reports Obama’s successes on his trip abroad while seemingly upstaging John McCain at every turn:

‘“Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq's welcoming gift was an endorsement of Obama's troop withdrawal plan. King Abdullah of Jordan was happy to be his limo driver in Amman while Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted she ‘wouldn't resist’ another presidential back massage.

“No wonder some in corridors of London's Foreign Office fear that Obamamania has taken such a grip on 10 Downing Street that the eagerness of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his acolytes to get a sprinkling of the stardust might alienate John McCain”

But here’s Harnden’s warning to the rock star candidate:

“Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee. Americans admire self-confidence up to a point, but fueling the notion that he's a presumptuous nominee is a good way to lose in November.”

Obama Can’t Use Brandenburg Gate as Campaign Backdrop

Geir Moulson reports at the Huffington Post: “German Chancellor Angela Merkel has signaled unease over the prospect of a possible speech by Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama at Berlin's historic Brandenburg Gate, a spokesman said Wednesday.”

The Obama campaign has begun to use increasingly dramatic show business techniques on behalf of the candidate, e.g., moving his planned acceptance speech at the convention in Denver to Invesco Field at Mile High, which can accommodate over 75,000 fans.

Evidently Obama’s advisors had envisioned him following in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan who spoke at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987 and Bill Clinton who spoke on the east side of the historic site in 1994 to announce, “Berlin is free.”

Moulson reported via Merkel's spokesperson that the chancellor had expressed “skepticism” about plans to use the Brandenburg Gate as a “campaign backdrop.”

Skepticism, indeed. With Obama’s scant record of achievement on the national or international scene, it must be difficult for his handlers to figure out ways to elevate his stature at the onset of the general election.

Obama's skimpy resume (not all that outstanding even as a legislator in his home state of Ill.) might also explains the fake presidential seal his campaign came up with awhile back. That idea tanked pretty fast, too.