Diplomatic Detour

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 8, 2009; 9:20 AM


I was showing some out-of-town relatives the Lincoln Memorial on Thanksgiving Day 2003 when I got the call that President Bush had shown up in Baghdad.

That ended my vacation day as lots of journalists gave up turkey to report on how the president had served (fake) turkey to the troops and pulled off a daring move in a war that was not yet as horribly unpopular as it would soon become.

But the "surprise" visit soon became a cliche, as the likes of Don Rumsfeld, Condi Rice and Dick Cheney would periodically show up in Iraq and the novelty wore off. The trips were unannounced for legitimate security reasons, but they lost their impact, especially as the public turned fervently against the seemingly endless war.

But who was expecting President Obama to show up in Baghdad yesterday? The White House showed it can keep a secret and seized an opportunity to showcase Obama as a hands-on commander-in-chief. Pictures of a president with whooping and hollering American soldiers, in a war zone, have always been a plus.

The irony, of course, is that Obama ran against the Iraq war. Indeed, his primary candidacy against Hillary Clinton was built on his 2002 speech opposing the invasion, and as president he has done what he promised to a set a timetable for withdrawal.

But many things could go wrong -- and in Afghanistan as well -- so it can't hurt a new president to be seen conducting an on-site inspection of the divisive war he inherited.

"President Obama made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Tuesday, declaring it time for U.S. troops to start leaving and Iraqis to take complete charge of their country. Events on the ground illustrated how difficult that may yet prove to be," says the L.A. Times.

"The number of violent incidents in Baghdad has been increasing: Six car bombs exploded in the capital the day before Obama's visit, killing 36 people. Another detonated Tuesday before he arrived, killing nine more. The attacks all targeted Shiite neighborhoods, hinting at rising sectarian tensions."

Boston Globe: "President Obama drew praise from troops and veterans groups for his surprise visit yesterday to Baghdad, another step in his concerted effort to win the support of the military despite having opposed the Iraq war and never having served in uniform . . .

"The unscheduled trip to Baghdad is Obama's latest gesture designed to win over the armed forces since he went on a 'listening tour' with top Pentagon brass seven weeks ago. Last month, speaking to Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Obama promised a pay increase and more help for wounded veterans -- his biggest applause line in a speech detailing his plan to end the Iraq war and bring troops home."

Any time you can get a New York Post headline like "Troops in Iraq Cheer 'GI' O," you've come out ahead:

"President Obama was welcomed like a returning war hero yesterday by hundreds of ecstatic US troops during a surprise visit to Iraq."

Steve Benen offers this short-and-sweet judgment in the Washington Monthly: "No one, as far as I can tell, tried to hit Obama with a shoe, so I suppose this visit will be considered more of a success than the last presidential visit to Iraq."

But the hot issue on the right is Obama dipping his head as he greets the Saudi king. Michelle Malkin: "I hope all the lefties who tore into Bush over his Saudi prostration will express equal disgust with President HopeAndChange's literal bowing and scraping to King Abdullah."

Allahpundit: "If this is a bow, it's more than Elizabeth got when The One met her yesterday. Maybe if she started beheading people for not practicing the state religion, she'd have received a little more deference."
MIA

Some of the most important video of the Obama presidency went missing yesterday, thanks to a military mixup.

When Obama made his surprise visit to Iraq, a CBS News crew acting as the pool for the networks shot footage of the president meeting with U.S. troops. A CBS executive said Pentagon officials required the network to hand the tape to a military courier, who was to ferry it to a CBS representative outside the secure military zone so it could be transmitted to all the networks. CBS, this executive said, had no choice.

Hours went by; no tape. No one seems to know what happened. There was talk of sandstorms and a bungled handoff. The cable networks had to make do with Defense Department footage of less than top quality. The tape was finally located and belatedly handed off to CBS -- minutes before the 6:30 newscasts.
Vermont Joins the Club

The Burlington Free Press applauds yesterday's veto override: "The final passage of the marriage equality bill affirms the idea that all Vermonters are equal before the law, and that denying someone a civil right solely based on his or her sexual orientation amounts to discrimination."

And: "Gay-rights groups say that momentum from back-to-back victories on same-sex marriage in Vermont and Iowa could spill into other states, particularly since at least nine other legislatures are considering measures this year to allow marriage between gay couples," says the NYT.

"New York, New Jersey, Maine and New Hampshire are among the states where such proposals have gained legislative support in recent months."

When the Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay marriage last week, some conservatives, such as Donald Kent Douglas at Pajamas Media, blamed judicial overreaching:

"Gay marriage violates the deepest social sensibilities of the nation. . . . The Iowa Supreme Court was relegated to declaring anyone who doesn't agree with the radical gay agenda as socially deviant. You have a state-level judicial elite blowing off the majoritarian consensus in the name of equal protection of the laws."

That argument is moot in Vermont, as Americablog's John Aravosisexults: "This is huge. On many levels. First, Iowa and Vermont both making marriage legal within days of each other, that creates the sense of a trend. Second, in Vermont, the legislature made marriage legal. Not the courts, the legislature.

"Why does this matter? Because Republicans have been arguing for years that the problem with gay marriage is that THE COURTS are making these decisions, rather than the people via their elected representatives. Well, today the people made the decision to legalize same-gender marriages through their elected representatives. What will Republicans say now? We've met their test, and passed."
The Levi Chronicles

The Palin family drama continues, and Salon's Rebecca Traister can't believe the governor's response:

"Even months of prepping and primping and practicing and coiffing and fitting and retracting and denying and obfuscating and spinning, and somehow, after 28 weeks, the woman still has no idea how to handle the press.

"A media savvy governor, upon learning that her daughter's ex-boyfriend and baby-daddy had granted an interview to talk-show host Tyra Banks, might have pounded a fist on a table, uttered a handful of salty expletives, crossed her fingers that nobody would tune in and quietly hoped that it would all get swept under the carpet.

"Not Sarah Palin! No, this wizard decided the best way to tackle the (understandably irritating) problem of her loose-lipped would-have-been son-in-law was to publicly rebuke the kid, in a grandiose statement of denial and affronted morals, the weekend before the offending interview was to air, thereby ensuring that the episode of 'Tyra' would become must-see television . . .

"Johnston showed up in an untucked button-down, grey pants and a bright blue sweater vest, sounding no more or less like an anxious dumbass than you might expect of a teenager who wants to talk about his private life on 'Tyra.' He was affable and monosyllabic, giving mostly grunting 'yes' and 'no' answers to Banks questions. Did he cheat on Bristol? 'No.' Had he moved in with the Palins before Tripp's birth? 'Yes.' Did he and Bristol share a room? 'Yes.'

"But Levi was downright eloquent in comparison to Banks, who treated him with a combination of condescension and obsequiousness unmatched in my recent television watching experience."

The Levi tour continued this morning on CBS's "Early Show."
Marketing Michelle

Michelle Obama mania is everywhere, as you already know if you don't live in a cave. But Ad Age reports that it doesn't always ring cash registers:

"A Michelle Obama cover doesn't hurt a general-interest magazine, the numbers suggest, but it doesn't produce more than an occasional lift either.

"New York magazine's March 23 issue, with a cover story about 'The Power of Michelle Obama,' looks like it produced 'average' sales, New York said April 3, although the numbers remain subject to change.

"When Ms. Obama appears on the cover of a magazine directed toward African-Americans, however, or when she appears with the president, sales really do seem to jump. . . .

"Ms. Obama proved newsstand gold for Ebony last fall. The September 2008 issue, with a cover story on 'The Real Michelle Obama,' sold a hefty 261,000 copies on newsstands, 26% better than the six-month average, according to its report to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

"And the January issue of Essence, which split its print run between a cover featuring the president and a cover showing the first lady, earned newsstand sales of 458,000, the magazine told the audit bureau. The January 2008 cover, by comparison, sold 250,922 copies on newsstands."
Las Vegas-Style Divorce

The governor of Nevada has quite an energetic agenda, according to the latest on his running soap opera:

"First lady Dawn Gibbons accuses Gov. Jim Gibbons in divorce papers of having extramarital affairs with a former Playboy magazine model and another woman to whom he sent hundreds of text messages last year. The Republican governor has been untruthful about his 'infidelity' with the two women, his estranged wife says in a divorce filing, which was unsealed Monday by a court order in Washoe County Family Court.

"The governor has insisted both women were just friends. He filed for divorce last May, citing 'incompatibility' with his wife. The couple had been married since 1986.

"Dawn Gibbons identified one of the women in the documents as Kathy Karrasch, who over several weeks in 2007 received more than 860 text messages from the governor on his state cell phone.

"The governor publicly apologized last year and reimbursed the state $130. He denied the messages were 'love notes.' His explanation that the messages were consultations with Karrasch about state business was 'laughable,' Dawn Gibbons said in court documents . . .

"Dawn Gibbons also made references in court papers to an incident in Las Vegas just weeks before the 2006 election in which a cocktail waitress, Chrissy Mazzeo, accused the governor of making unwanted sexual advances and threatening to rape her in a parking lot."
Where Did the Women Go?

I understand that some orthodox Jews believe the sexes should be kept separate. But does that justify an Israeli newspaper airbrushing two women out of a group picture?
Please Wait for the Beep

Is voice mail becoming obsolete? I missed this NYT account last week, probably because nobody left me a message:

"When it was introduced in the early 1980s, voice mail was hailed as a miracle invention -- a boon to office productivity and a godsend to busy households. Hollywood screenwriters incorporated it into plotlines: Distraught heroine comes home, sees blinking red light, listens as desperate suitor begs for another chance to make it all right. Beep!

"But in an age of instant information gratification, the burden of having to hit the playback button -- or worse, dial in to a mailbox and enter a pass code -- and sit through 'ums' and 'ahs' can seem too much to bear."

Too much for Kevin Drum in Mother Jones:

"Matt Yglesias says, 'If you leave a message on my office voicemail, forget about it. I'm not even entirely sure I know how to check it.' James Joyner agrees: 'I often forget to check my voice mail for days on end and my wife simply won't check a message, preferring to return any missed calls that show up on her mobile.' And Andrew Sullivan warns us: 'I check my voice mail once a week. Just so you know.'

"I've never had quite the aversion to voice mail that these folks do, but still, I understand. Death to voice mail."

I don't check it as obsessively as I did in the pre-BlackBerry, pre-Twitter age, but still: Do we want an all-digital world where no one has time to hear a human voice?
Twits

Speaking of Twitter, I think the proliferation of fake celebrities (and even the not-so-famous, like Frank Luntz) is a serious problem that the founders ought to address. MSNBC's Helen Popkin explores this question while arguing that the actual celebs are, ah, nothing to tweet home about:

"A multitude of mainstream media stories about celebrity Twelf-indulgence revealed the truth we've long suspected: Dang, but famous people are dull! The vast majority of honest-to-goodness celebs operate, with little variation, from this template: 'rambling thought . . . rambling thought . . . something I did . . . song lyric . . . emoticon . . . rambling thought . . . ' Despite an enviable lifestyle well worth describing, most celebrities on Twitter -- even those like Britney Spears who hire Harvard grads to ghostwrite tweets -- get their high-colonic cleansed butts handed to them from online imposters daily."

Ellie