Grading Obama's Trip Overseas and Will the Left try to Ruin the Tea Parties?

President Obama's just completed overseas trip received major coverage and now everyone is trying to determine what it all means. The following is a report card on the various aspects of the trip.

Rhetoric (With Teleprompter): Obama provides great rhetorical flourishes in front of big crowds. I am, however, noticing a trend where the audience gets less enthusiatic as the speech drags on. Grade: A-

Rhetoric (Substance) A great deal of the substance of Obama's speeches focused on how bad the last 8 years were and how arrogant our nation had become. Not impressive for a President. Not in the class of JFK or Ronald Reagan. Grade: C-

Rhetoric (Without Teleprompter) When Obama is off message he has problems. Calling the UK "England" (the Irish and Scots don't like this) and refering to the "Austrian" language causes one to wonder what he was learning at Columbia and Harvard. If "W" or Sarah Palin has said these things the press would have had a field day. Grade: C-

Photo Ops: Pictures of the President in front of the big crowds and the troops were a plus. Bowing to the Saudi king was a minus. Grade: B

Accomplishing Major Goals: The key European countries opposed his request to spend more stimulus money (a bad idea) and to send more troops to Afghanistan. (a good idea). Grade: F

World Response To Obama's Charm. In the middle of his trip North Korea fired a missile and Obama, of course, asked the UN for help. His new buddies the Chinese and Russians opposed him. After making a big deal about how we loved and respected the Muslim world in his speech in Turkey, Somali (Muslim) pirates hijacked an American-flagged ship for the first time and at this writing are currently holding the captain hostage. In fairness most, but not all, of the European fashion magazines liked Mrs Obama's outfits. Grade: F--Fashion is not going to save the world.

Special Alert: There are reports that members of ACORN and other leftwing groups will try to infiltrate the April 15 Tea Parties in order to create acts of violence that they hope will be shown on TV. This makes attendance at these events all the more interesting.