A toady down under

At the gym I learn, through CNN's hysterical, shrill coverage, that the Australian Prime Minister has "dissed" Barack Obama on his plan to withdraw troops by 2008.

“If I were running Al Qaeda in Iraq,” Mr. Howard said, “I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory not only for Obama but also for the Democrats.”

This is how the NYT reported it. The CNN headline read something like: "Howard says that an Obama victory would be a victory for the terrorists".

I don't know what to do about CNN anymore, but that is the subject of a lengthier, nastier kvetch. But how pathetic of the White House and of this penal colony putz, to enter the fray like that, from the other side of the ocean.

Obama responded quite well, according to the NYT:

In a news conference here, Mr. Obama dismissed the remarks, saying it was “flattering that one of George Bush’s allies on the other side of the world started attacking me the day after I announced.”

Mr. Obama said Australia had sent 1,400 troops to Iraq, a fraction of the American force.

“If he’s ginned up to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and send them to Iraq,” Mr. Obama said. “Otherwise, it’s just a bunch of empty rhetoric.”

Exactly.

By the way, why does CNN use the word "dis"? Because Obama's black? Would they have used that word if it was Hillary, or someone else?
There seems to be this atavistic, knee-jerk reaction to undermine the guy. Just out of the gate, a member of Obama's own party talks about his cleanliness and articulateness, the press talks about his name as if it was unpronounceable, there are news out there that he attended a Muslim school, which CNN promptly describes as radical. This is just the beginning of what I predict will be a hellish uphill battle for Mr. Obama.