FoxNews.com reports that "The significant news coverage Barack Obama is receiving on his foreign trip has not translated into a bounce in his [poll] numbers."
Why? Nicholas Wapshott, writing at City Journal, says that the entire overseas tour has really just been "Obama's ego trip."
But Obama is treading a dangerous path. It would be rash to take a November victory for granted; if he has learned nothing else from his slim victory over Hillary Clinton, he should have learned that nothing is inevitable. He would not be the first front-runner to fall victim to hubris. Rather than revel in the adulation of adoring crowds, he would do better to confirm to skeptical American voters that he will not value the well-being of foreigners ahead of the interests of Americans. Only by stressing that as president he would, like his predecessors, put America first—thereby disillusioning the Europeans—will he be able to convince voters at home that he has his priorities right.I don't think that Obama's speech at Berlin's Victory Column will do much convincing. It's not that I think it was a bad speech - in fact, in many places it was quite good. It's that Obama failed to speak to American voters rather than a German throng.
(OTOH, Don Surber counts the errors in Obama's Berlin speech.)
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The Berlin speech will appeal to those Americans who believe that other counries--particularly European countries--have more moral authority than does the USA. But 90% of those people were going to vote for Obama anyway.
"Gallup Daily Poll:
Obama by 6
Is There a Europe Effect?
Obama moves back to significant lead over McCain
July 25, 2008
Barack Obama has expanded his lead over John McCain in the Tuesday through Thursday Gallup Poll Daily tracking rolling average and now has a 47% to 41% advantage over his Republican challenger."
Sure, it's a move in Obama's favor, but don't these polls typically have a sampling error of 3-4 percent? So a six percent lead would still be pretty close. If it lengthens to 10 points or more in the coming days, then I'll agree that the Big Mo is with the Big O, at least for now.
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