As Obama Begins “Word Tour”, Reality Hits Home

CNN and the BBC are reporting that presidential hopeful, Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan this morning. Obama is traveling with substantial security due to fears that the Taliban might take a shot at him. Matt Drudge has entitled this jaunt the “Obama Tour”, with the three major news networks toddling along. Are the networks showing bias? A few, very few, journalist are asking if the media is a tad biased when it comes to Barack Obama. Thomas Roeser, of the Chicago Observer, notes that no other unelected official in U.S. history has received more favorable coverage than Barack – you think?

Meanwhile, back up in the northeast, the high cost of gasoline is adversely affecting the tourist industry. On a stop at an Old Orchard Beach, Maine, beach shop, the owners noted that this year was the “worst year in 28 years of business". It is mid-July and the traffic is smooth, the streets are not teaming with people, it is not a ghost town, by any means, but unusually quiet. In talking with business owners, the blame is being placed on – Congress. Shockingly enough, this beach town, within easy distance from Boston, is talking politics and policies. George Bush, of all people, is being praised for lifting the ban on drilling, while the Congress is being blamed for stalling, specifically the Democrats in charge. The locals also commented on the presidential candidates – McCain, although not a great choice for Mainers (see primary results), is seen as less of a threat than Obama. When asked why – the answer is his stance on oil drilling, followed by the constant media attention. Granted this is not a scientific poll, however – this may be one of the reasons that Obama is in a “statistical dead heat” in recent polls. Newsweek asked the question: “is the glow fading”? The answer might be, the more the spotlight is on Sen. Obama, the more the “folks in the street” get to know him. The constant media attention has given people the opportunity to watch his position on virtually every issue “evolve” (otherwise known as a politically opportunistic flip-flop) over the last 8 months, and that has made a difference.

While the Northeast prepares itself for a challenging summer and a more challenging winter (home heating concerns), the suspicion is rising as to the real reason the Democrats (and some Republicans) in Congress are refusing to move to lift the ban on drilling. People aren’t buying the “it will take 7 years for this to make a difference” angle - they understand speculators (as the media has described, at length, how speculators affect the price of oil)- and the fact that oil prices dropped after Bush lifted the Executive ban has them convinced this is a politically motivated stall on the part of Congress. After all, Democrats do well in a bad economy – don’t they?