"Hello Cleveland!"

Richard Wolf, writing in USA Today, tries his hand at comedy:

After 10 weeks in office trying to save the U.S. economy, President Obama is ready to take on the world economy.

Har! That's a good one, Richard! Wait, you weren't kidding? Oh. Huh. Okay, then.

At any rate, The Rockstar-In-Chief is heading off on his first overseas tour since he took office:

Still new on the world stage at 47, Obama will meet privately with at least six presidents, prime ministers and a king in London, then five more as he travels on to France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Turkey. He'll attend three summits, deliver two major addresses and hold a roundtable with students in Istanbul. He'll take time out to see Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace and sightsee from Strasbourg to Istanbul.

Hopefully, he'll have enough DVDs of classic American movie favorites for everyone. And, maybe, an appropriate gift for the Queen. Perhaps a bust of Oliver Cromwell.

The goal of the trip, says Denis McDonough, deputy national security adviser, is nothing less than "restoring America's standing in the world."

Translation: sucking up to the Europeans and talking surrender in Iraq and preemptive surrender should Iran do anything provocative.

It will produce at least two story lines: one symbolic, one substantive.

In the first, Obama will likely be greeted warmly by Western European leaders, thanks to his popularity among their constituents. Barack Obama, for most Europeans, embodies the American dream," says Karen Donfried, executive vice president of the German Marshall Fund, which promotes trans-Atlantic cooperation. "It's what Europeans love about this country."

Who can blame them? I mean, this is the only country in the world where a dangerously unqualified empty suit who's never held a job for more than two years or so can, with the help of the media, bluff his way into the most powerful office in the free world. It's a real Horatio Alger story.

The second and more important theme is about dollars, pounds and euros. Although the president is popular, the U.S. financial collapse precipitated much of the world's problems. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., says foreigners "blame the model that we exported."

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. John Kerry, once again demonstrating his love for America.

Europeans who for years fretted over military preparedness and the threat of terrorism now are consumed with a financial meltdown that has cost millions of jobs — even those of government leaders from Iceland to Latvia. Obama's task is to lead by example and persuade colleagues to take many of the steps the United States has taken to fix their economies.

Uh-huh. Because we're doing so well since Barack took over. Besides, aren't the leaders of Europe already leading Obama by example? I mean, we haven't exactly been doing a great job with the free-market thing over the past few years, but I could've sworn that we've been rushing headlong toward European-style socialism a bit faster since, oh, January 20th or so. Maybe it's just me.

Oh, and there goes Richard with his jokes again, cracking wise about how the Euros have been fretting about "military preparedness" for years. Good one, Rich. Good one.

Posted by: Sean M. at 02:45 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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