Here's Michael Powell on Obama in the morning NYT:

He waxes incandescent at rallies, but in the 18-hour days leading up to primaries, he can sound aloof and querulous before smaller audiences. Condescension can creep in. He suggested, for example, that his youthful travels to Asia and Europe had left him more knowledgeable than Mrs. Clinton or Mr. McCain about foreign affairs.

So the claim that knowing something of how people live abroad is highly useful for the conduct of foreign affairs is condescension? Michael Powell's example arguably exhibits presumption or exaggeration; but condescension? The Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines condescend thus: "to behave as if one is conscious of descending from a superior position, rank, or dignity." But if another candidate claims foreign policy knowledge on the basis of official trips as first lady, or a visit to an Iraqi market in the company of a hundred armed guards, by these dim lights does the claim qualify as exhibiting an absence of condescension?

I pick this nit because the stamping of the condescension label onto Obama's forehead is a big deal. A Nexis search gives 303 examples of newspaper stories over the past year which mention "condescend" or its variants within 10 words of "Obama." The comparable figure for John McCain is 54.

Read more »