By Matt Rooney | July 28, 2008

"The most solemn duty of a commander in chief is to fulfill his responsibility to the men and women who serve this country in uniform. Barack Obama had scheduled a visit with wounded American troops who have served with honor and distinction in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he broke that commitment, instead flitting from one European capital to the next. Several explanations were offered, none was convincing and each was at odds with the statements of American military leaders in Germany and Washington. For a young man so apt at playing president, Barack Obama badly misjudged the important demands of the office he seeks. Visits with world leaders and speeches to cheering Europeans shouldn't be a substitute for comforting injured American heroes."

- Army Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Joe Repya

Lt. Col. Repya has eloquently articulated what Americans are gradually discovering: Barack Obama has little interest in being our next commander-in-chief. The freshman senator from Illinois wasted little time in the U.S. Senate before exploring a White House run. Apparently, Obama has since found himself unsatisfied by the prospect of leading just the free world. With three months to go before the general election, Senator Obama has now set his sights on a more grandiose title: President of the World. Yet his arrogance may yet prove his undoing.

National polling consistently identifies Senator Obama's lack of experience and meager leadership qualifications as major electoral vulnerabilities. Many voters otherwise inclined to vote for a Democrat in 2008 are given pause by Obama's remarkably weak resume. It is therefore nothing less than remarkable that Senator Obama chose to disregard a golden opportunity to look like a commander-in-chief. The image of the young legislator grasping wounded hands and soothing broken spirits would have gone a long way towards convincing a skeptical public of his character and quality.

The Obama campaign instead chose to embark on a week-long victory lap around the European Union. The Senator has basked in the glow of an adoring Europe increasingly disdainful of America's preeminent role in world affairs. A small legion of reporters track his every move and the print media encapsulate his candidacy as a remarkable affair of biblical proportions. Obama explained his Europeans trip priorities by regurgitating alleged Pentagon concerns over the overt politicization of any potential hospital trip. Curiously, the audacity of hope extends to meeting with foreign heads of state but not comforting injured servicemen and servicewomen. Barack Obama has therefore made his preference to become a transcendent global figure abundantly clear. His speeches abroad contain none of the Reaganesque arguments promoting western values or celebrating American exceptionalism, but the domestic media continues to assign messianic importance to every Obama-uttered syllable.

Yet Obama seems hopelessly preoccupied with his own press and dangerously enamored with the delusions of his  sycophants. Barack Obama's arrogance has also had the effect of making the election about Barack Obama and not George Bush or any other topic the DNC would rather run on. Americans will vote on November 4th in a de facto referendum on Barack Obama and, without qualification, John McCain should be thrilled.

Senator McCain is now presented with a tremendous opportunity should he choose to accept it. The job is now his to exploit Barack's troop snub and draw stark distinctions between Senator Obama's European antics and his own responsible and valiant conduct over decades of military and public service. If the McCain campaign resolves to make Barack's blunder stick, there should be little contest between the war hero who is ready to be commander-in-chief on day one and the senator whose choices cast doubt on the seriousness of his entire candidacy.