CNN's Gooey Rerun: Obama Is JFK and MLK, Rolled Into One?

CNN’s talk programming on the Sunday before the Democratic convention wasn’t all new. Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria’s GPS program replayed a Zakaria interview with Obama after his trip abroad, and then repeated gooey scoops of Obama-mania from a French author who said Obama "is the re-embodiment in one person -- in one only, in one single body -- of the two greatest heroes in our eyes of American history, modern American history, who are Martin Luther King and John Fitzgerald Kennedy."

He was so popular in Europe, said Bernard-Henri Levy, that if Europe was voting for president he might draw 90 percent of the vote. Zakaria found nothing controversial in the remark. He merely repeated it to German journalist Josef Joffe: "Is this Martin Luther King and Kennedy come back to Earth?"

About 40 minutes into the program, this exchange unfolded:

ZAKARIA: Mr. Henri Levy, tell me, what do you make of the Obama mania that seems to have swept not just France, but all of Europe?

BERNARD-HENRI LEVY: All over Europe. If he was supposed to be the president of Europe, he will be elected by 85 percent -- even maybe on the North Korean score, you know, 90 percent. So, there is a real Obamania. And if you ask me what is the reason for that, I would say that he is the re-embodiment in one person -- in one only, in one single body -- of the two greatest heroes in our eyes of American history, modern American history, who are Martin Luther King and John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Obama equals the King plus JFK in the eyes of the French, the Germans, the Spanish, the Italians. This is one of the keys of this incredible popularity as far as I am concerned, at least. This is the way I see the thing.

ZAKARIA: Jo, is this Martin Luther King and Kennedy come back to Earth?

JOSEF JOFFE, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, "DIE ZEIT": Well, certainly, you know, if you look at Obama, he imitates Kennedy down to the inflection of his voice, the tilt of his head. So, there's a conscious, self-conscious kind of mimicking of Kennedy.

I think Levy is right. But I would put it a little bit differently. I think Obama is not so much a candidate here, as he is a canvass, a vast surface for projecting Europe's fondest desires onto America.
And of course, that is projecting dreams and desires. This is how we want America.

John McCain was okay, the two Europeans thought. But he "lost the battle of story-telling." This is another way of saying he was completely overwhelmed by the bias of the story-tellers.

As for McCain, Jo is right. He's a great guy. The only problem is that he does not -- out of America, he does not exist. In terms of storytelling, he lost. He lost the battle of storytelling. He lost that already. Maybe he will not lose the whole battle, but this one he lost.

The original program was aired on July 27.