Is Mr. Obama "playing president?"

From cnn.com: "For a young man so apt at playing president, Barack Obama badly misjudged the important demands of the office he seeks," Reypya said in Saturday's statement. "Visits with world leaders and speeches to cheering Europeans shouldn't be a substitute for comforting injured American heroes," he added.The Obama campaign responded Saturday by saying that the last thing Obama wanted "was to have injured soldiers get pulled into the back-and-forth of a political campaign.""That's why we imagine Sen. McCain would be surprised that his campaign released this wildly inappropriate accusation that politicizes the issue," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement.McCain himself joined in the rebuke, the AP reported, saying in an interview to be aired Sunday by ABC's "This Week" that "if I had been told by the Pentagon that I couldn't visit those troops, and I was there and wanted to be there, I guarantee you, there would have been a seismic event."Senior Obama adviser Robert Gibbs said Friday that retired Major Gen. Scott Gration, a policy adviser to the campaign, received a call from Pentagon officials earlier in the week expressing concerns about the trip -- specifically because Obama was heading there on his campaign plane and campaign staff members would be accompanying him on the visit.After speaking with Gration, the campaign decided to cancel the trip. Gibbs said Obama is "comfortable with the decision" because he did not want to make the troops part of a campaign event.

I really think that the phrase "playing president"is right on point. Mr. Obama hit Europe like he was already president. I am sure that his handlers wanted to make sure that he looked "presidential". But this trip had to chance to make Mr. Obama look human. It had the chance for Mr. Obama to show a real genuine person. A chance to show Mr. Obama as a concerned citizen. A citizen of the United states not the world. This "Rainbow Tour" was like a greatly over-produced rock tune! It leaves the listener thinking that there is no way its going to sound this good live. And thats what this tour showed me. It was so over "handled" that there is no way an Obama presidency could continue to maintain and live up to this level of hype!It is my view that Mr. Obama not leaving his jet and vi sting those wounded troops was a missed opportunity. An opportunity to not just look a president but to experience what president have do experience. Seeing those sacrifices made up close and personal. Hearing how those man and women want to get better and get back to their units. Seeing how those men and women are dedicated to the mission and to each other. hearing how none of them feel like they are "stuck" anywhere. If he had seen them Mr. Obama would have finally understood what it really means to "support the troops."If Mr. Obama wants to be president he must understand that it is more than making (reading) speeches. It is the hard work of making tough decisions. It is the heart work of seeing those that have given it all for their country. Its not about how much the world likes you its about how much the world respects you.