'He Has a Little Bit of an Arrogant Streak in Him. He Does'

Between now and Election Day, we're sure to see—and chronicle at NB—plenty of MSM sycophancy for Barack Obama.  But between the thrills going up assorted media legs, evidence is emerging that some in the media are beginning to assess the Dem candidate in a clearer light.  Take for example, Gabriel Sherman's piece at the New Republic which as its title—End of the Affair—suggests, has as its thesis that at least for some of its members, the MSM's puppy-love stage might be coming to an end.

Today comes Howard Fineman's admission, hesitant as it might be, and mitigated by his suggestion that Obama came close to hitting an absolute home run with his European trip, that yes, well, after all, the guy is—how can I put this?—arrogant.

Newsweek's senior DC correspondent was a guest on this afternoon's Hardball, with Mike Barnicle sitting in for Chris Matthews. The jumping off point was Obama's cancellation of his plans to visit injured American troops in Germany.

View video here.

MIKE BARNICLE: So does this campaign behavior, and thus Barack Obama's behavior, is it in any way similar to Barack Obama's seemingly being unable to say about the surge "hey, you know, I made a mistake about the surge; it worked out much better than I thought it would, and let's move on."  Why can't they do that?

HOWARD FINEMAN: Well I, having observed Obama and covered him for quite some time, I mean I've been up close to him a lot, not as much as some, but enough, to know that he, uh, he gets his back up when he's, uh, when he's, when he's cross-examined or criticized.  He does.  He, he, he has a --

BARNICLE: That's not, that's not a very positive thing to note about a candidate!

FINEMAN: No, he has a, he has a, he has a little bit of an arrogant streak in him.  He does.

Obviously wasn't easy for Howard, but he did eventually get it out.