WPost Calls Out 'Uppity' Obama
By Robert Parry
July 31, 2008
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Milbank’s Lens
But the out-of-context quote was only part of Milbank’s case. Virtually everything in the column was viewed through the lens of trying to prove Obama’s arrogance.
When Washington police and the Secret Service block off roads for Obama’s motorcade, that was not simply prudence in the face of extraordinary security concerns for Obama’s life; it was proof that Obama already sees himself as a head of state.
When Obama had a phone conversation with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and met with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, these weren’t just routine matters for a U.S. Senator or the presumptive nominee of a major party; they were further evidence of Obama’s “uppity” behavior.
Milbank wrote that Obama “ordered up a teleconference with the (current President's) Treasury secretary, granted an audience to the Pakistani prime minister. … Then, he went up to Capitol Hill to be adored by House Democrats in a presidential-style pep rally.
“Along the way, he traveled in a bubble more insulating than the actual President's. Traffic was shut down for him as he zoomed about town in a long, presidential-style motorcade, while the public and most of the press were kept in the dark about his activities.”
Milbank groused, too, about the tight security that the police put around Obama’s movements on Capitol Hill.
“Capitol Police cleared the halls -- just as they do for the actual President. The Secret Service hustled him in through a side door -- just as they do for the actual President,” Milbank wrote.
While Milbank portrayed these security steps as further evidence of Obama’s hubris, there is no reason to believe that Obama had any say in the decisions of his security detail to protect the candidate.
One has to wonder: Doesn’t Dana Milbank have any idea of the physical danger that surrounds the first African-American to have a serious chance to be elected President of the United States? Does Milbank really want to heighten the political pressure on Obama to take more chances with his personal safety than he already does?
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http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/073008.html