It seems the President Obama's trip is a success in the eyes of the American people:
A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey -- in the field from Friday through Sunday -- showed that a strong majority (61 percent) believed Obama had accomplished either "a great deal" (16 percent) or "a fair amount" (45 percent) during the trip while just 24 percent said he had not accomplished much and 11 percent said he had accomplished nothing at all.
The poll also showed a widespread belief that Obama's trip has had a positive impact on the way in which America is viewed in the world.
Great news, right? Not so fast says Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post:
Before the White House begins celebrating the political success of this trip, however, it's important to remember two caveats.
First, former president George W. Bush was so despised by much of the world that an improvement in the way that America is seen by the rest of the world was almost inevitable once he left office. (The Post/ABC survey showed a whopping 61 percent of voters believed that America's image in the world had worsened under Bush.)
Second, first appearances are not necessarily lasting. Remember back to the campaign when Obama received rave reviews for his tour of Europe including over the moon analysis of his address to several hundred thousand people in Berlin.
But, the trip quickly turned sour -- from a political perspective -- as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) used the footage of thousands of cheering Germans to paint Obama as an empty celebrity, a tag that stuck for the better part of a month and slowed the Democratic candidate's momentum.
So you see, George Bush was such a monumental failure, that anyone would seem better ... apparently Cillizza thinks that people are unable to actually judge the current president and like what they're seeing.
And that sour political perspective? Does Cillizza mean John McCain's lame and unsuccessful attempt to paint Obama as a celebrity on par with Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears? Yeah, that really resonated with the voters, as we saw on November 4th.
I look forward to the day when a positive poll comes out for Obama and it's reported as something positive rather than something to be explained away.