You Never Call Anymore!

Barabk Obama arrived home from his whirlwind tour of the Middle East and Europe over the weekend to equal parts criticism and laudits.

On the plus side, he improved his foreign affairs cred - meeting with Petraeus and Maliki in Iraq and Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan. He was also seen with lots of world leaders, looking very presidential - which is apparently both a blessing and a curse. There seems to be a lot of talk about how he seemed to presidential - seen as arrogant or as one put it - too equal.

This "arrogant" stuff is getting pretty thinly veiled as a way of attacking Obama for - well, essentially for being a black man demanding to be taken as seriously as his white competitor. And it's only gotten worse as he's had the gall to steal the media spotlight from the McCain camp. There's a danger, certainly, in reading racial undertones into every criticism of Obama. But the description of Obama as arrogant has crossed the line between criticism and coded speech.

Meanwhile, McCain continues to harp on the media for covering Obama, sounding more and more like an unpleasant relative complaining that no one ever calls anymore. After spending his week kvetching about the media covering Obama's noteworthy trip, McCain apparently didn't feel the need to do anything particularly media friendly. While Obama discussed economics over lunch with a cavalcade of economist including Warren Buffet, McCain... held two fundraisers in Claifornia. That ought to get those cameras rolling.