Obama's self-proclaimed courage

Journalists, mostly, are putting a gauzy lens on Barack Obama's anti-war stand in 2002. Yes, it was not a popular position in the country. But in Illinois, in the Democratic primary, where his main rival was a conservative Democrat, it was prudent politics.

Obama told George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that it was courageous to be against the war then. Lynn Sweet called him on it this morning.

Obama told Stephanopoulos it was "political suicide" for him to be against the Iraq war in 2003. However, antiwar sentiment in Illinois was higher than in the rest of the country. In the March 2004 Illinois primary, Obama was helped by being the only antiwar contender.

Barack is granted superlatives by most of the media, most of the time, whether he deserves them or not. Not satisfied with that good fortune, he now is assigning fake superlatives to himself.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Illinois, Iraq, journalism