After sharing NCAA picks on ESPN, "global citizen" Barack Obama is taking the teleprompter to Latin America. On the agenda: Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for a public speech in Cinelandia Square. It's almost certain Obama will be "perfectly clear" when offering condolences to Japan and hollow warnings to Muammar Gaddafi. Extending friendship to the Brazilian people, Obama will talk oil, nuclear power, and probably attempt a joke about that famous girl from Ipanema.
At a recent press briefing, White House spokesperson Jay Carney reassured news commentators that despite thousands of bodies washing up on Japanese shores the diplomatic/sightseeing tour was right on schedule. Carney stressed: "You have to remember that economic growth in the United States is the president's top priority. This trip is very focused on economic opportunities for the United States and the trade relationship."
The Brazil-Chile-El Salvador tour is being touted as an effort to revive the US economy. At a time when, over the next decade, the President's budget plan is predicted to double the national debt to $26.3 trillion, Barack hopes the trip will help rectify the mess he is in the process of making. Moreover, traveling to Brazil presents a perfect opportunity for the Obama family to "take in the sights in Rio."
With any luck, a hike up Corcovado Mountain to visit Christ the Redeemer statue will ignite the healing miracles that the Eighth Wonder of the Modern World promised would manifest if elected.
Regardless of the outcome, with a planet in crisis, the US economy in shambles, a bleak job market, housing starts down and food prices up, many Americans need a morale booster. For some, the Obama Rio Tour is tactless. For others, watching the First Family wiggle their toes in the white sand of Copacabana Beach provides respite. Travelers Michelle and Barry might just want those filing for unemployment insurance to know that at least someone is enjoying Barra da Tijuca.
By suggesting the nation participate in March Madness, an unsolicited Obama acknowledged that Americans need a "diversion." The President's recommendation: Make charitable contributions to tragedy-torn Japan while simultaneously having a "great time" penciling in NCAA brackets.
What seems to work for Obama is to follow earthquakes, tsunamis and subsequent nuclear meltdowns with a few rounds of golf and maybe even a shot of the Brazilian liquor Cachaça. In fact, four New York Times journalists missing in Libya could inspire the President to take a calming stroll through Rio's Botanical Gardens.
Despite global upheaval, the trip to Brazil may be more about finding the balance between calamity and contentment and doing so by canceling out negativity with international cuisine.
Barack's adept ability to detach from reality provides Americans the unique opportunity to live vicariously by observing the benefits of an extravagant, elitist lifestyle free from concern and adult responsibility. America may criticize Obama's approach to crisis, but in the midst of cataclysmic tragedy, the President of the United States has proven to be a world class leader when it comes to preventing dire circumstances from affecting merry-making in his own life.
Jeannie DeAngelis
Jeannie DeAngelis writes almost exclusively for American Thinker and has been published on the conservative website Pajamas Media, as well as hosting a blog. See Jeannie's Blog
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