No More 'ASEAN Idol'?

Conventional Wisdom, 1924 Style

Great Moments in Diplomacy: Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, right, and five aides got in touch with their inner Village People at the 2004 ASEAN security meeting. (Associated Press)

Two cautionary notes on the media's seeming conclusion this week that this presidential campaign is just about over. Granted, it's been, so far, an exceptionally good week on every front for Sen. Barack Obama-- from him sinking three-pointers to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's treasonous endorsement of Obama's withdrawal timetable.

And yes, it wasn't helpful that Sen. John McCain canceled his trip to New Orleans yesterday to tout oil drilling after a tanker and a barge collided on the Mississippi River, creating a massive slick and sending diesel fumes over the city.

Even so, some state polls this week showed McCain holding his own or even gaining ground in key state races. And the media has a long history of faulty prognostications. Truly faulty.

Take this item on Page 16 of the New York Times on Dec. 21, 1924, about Adolf Hitler's release from prison, headlined "Hitler Tamed by Prison."

Observing that he looked "sadder and wiser" -- probably because he was worried about finding a publisher for "Mein Kampf" -- the article concludes: "It is believed he will retire to private life and return to Austria, the country of his birth."

Still waiting for a correction . . .

I Can Name That Candidate -- Not!

Meanwhile, the English-language Jerusalem Post, on its Web site, did a takeoff of Jay Leno's Jaywalking routine, in which Leno heads to the streets to gauge the public's knowledge of current events.

In this case, the Post noted that McCain and Obama had each traveled to the Middle East to gain voters' backing at home by trying to express their strong support for Israel. "But how would the candidates fare if the people of Israel were voting?" the paper wondered. "We asked shoppers at a Jerusalem supermarket to identify photographs of John McCain and Barack Obama."

What they found -- http://www.jpost.com-- indicates that McCain might want to make another trip to the region. Some people got both names. Some got neither. But most were like one man who said: "That's Obama and that's his opponent, the Republican."

"That's Barack Obama and that's the other guy," one woman offered. "Maybe Cheney."

Well, Is It Imperial or Not?

As a way to mollify the Dennis Kucinich wing of the Democratic party, the House leadership asked Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers to hold hearings on President Bush. Not the impeachment hearings the left-wing folks wanted, but, as they were initially titled in a press release last Thursday: "Conyers Announces Hearing on Imperial Presidency."

But now they've decided to tone down even those faint hopes for the rabble rousers. Now, they're simply calling it: "Hearing on: Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations." Kucinich is testifying.

Dull but elegant.

He's Baaack

The State Department recently brought back Eric Boswell, a retired Foreign Service officer who had been assistant deputy director for security for the director of national intelligence, to be assistant secretary for diplomatic security.

Boswell held that position from 1995 until March 1998 -- a few months before the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were destroyed in August 1998 in the worst assault on U.S. diplomatic missions in our nation's history.

Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this column.