Sucked into the vacuum

Frank Rich writes perceptively (and with some excellent satire by Barry Blitt) that Obama's trip overseas shows that he's stepping easily into the leadership void left by the most sittingest duckiest preznit evah and a rival candidate who thinks Iraq and Pakistan share a border.

Fortunately, though, for us regular guys, the media is there to show us that we must resent this.

Until then, this really has been a good week for Obama, as the tracking polls show. That's because where Obama goes, McCain, kicking and screaming, follows. One might call it leadership, but that would be arrogant and presumptuous. And as Bob Cesca at HuffPost points out, the media heathers have been given their talking points, and reserve that description for Obama.

Via his lordship, Atrios.