"I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions."

But I also know how much I love America."

"Much of the rest of the speech fed the illusion that we could solve our problems if only people mystically come together. We should help Israelis and Palestinians unite. We should unite to prevent genocide in Darfur. We should unite so the Iranians won’t develop nukes. Or as Obama put it: 'The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.'

... Obama has benefited from a week of good images. But substantively, optimism without reality isn’t eloquence. It’s just Disney."

"Two top aides to the presumptive Republican nominee said the decision is likely to be announced after Obama returns from Europe on Sunday and before the Beijing Olympics begin Aug. 8."

The controversy surrounding the legitimacy of media coverage of Obama’s current foreign tour is among the latest questionable situations in which the Illinois senator has found himself. In the August issue of Townhall Magazine, managing editor Katie Favazza outlines Obama’s questionable connections and motives in her expos?, “Barack’s Old-Style Chicago Politics." Favazza’s piece connects Obama and the corrupt Chicago Machine in ways voters need to know before casting their ballot this November.

For more on the suspicious ways of the presumptive Democratic nominee, check out Favazza’s feature article in Townhall by subscribing here. Subscribe today and receive a free copy of Over a Barrel by Raymond J. Learsy with your 12 issues!

In his sermon to the Germans, Barack Obama presents himself both as Barack the Baptist and the Obamessiah. Nevertheless, Americans naturally root for for the underdog to prevail. For pride to take a fall. Don't we instinctively seek to puncture the grandiose pretensions of a blowhard? It seems to me that this is the question that Obama's speech elicits.

And one more question. I wonder if Americans will appreciate Obama's deprecation of the United States on foreign soil for his own self-aggrandizing purposes. Surely one does not need to be a conservative Republican to recoil from this display.

The “Townhall of Fame” department in the August issue of Townhall Magazine features John Croyle, founder of Big Oak Ranch, a home comprised of two separate boys’ and girls’ ranches for neglected and abused children. Croyle’s caring spirit roused him to begin the Ranch that so many call home and he does it all without any government funding. Croyle keeps the Ranch going with donations and refuses to be indebted to the feds. Now, that’s a man to respect!

Read more about Big Oak Ranch’s mission in Townhall by subscribing today! Click here to get your 12-month subscription and a free copy of Over a Barrel by Raymond J. Learsy and discover Croyle’s story as well as other’s in the pages on Townhall every month!

Do you know someone like Croyle who deserves recognition for putting their conservative beliefs into action? E-mail feedback@townhall.com to nominate someone you know!

1:42 p.m.: SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that Obama has cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl US military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday. “Barack Obama will not be coming to us,” a spokesperson for the US military hospital in Landstuhl announced. “I don’t know why.” Shortly before the same spokeswoman had announced a planned visit by Obama.

Capt. Ed notes:

I guess this is a question of priorities.  Barack Obama apparently ran short on time in his visit to Germany today, and travelers know how schedules can slip during long tours, even without all of the events Obama had planned.  Those circumstances force people to prioritize their time, and eliminate less-useful stops.

And Jonathan Martin adds:

The optics here are not good: Obama has time to get in a workout and give a speech to a crowd mostly comprised of Europeans, but can't be bothered to visit American troops wounded in action recovering at a military hospital.  Obama's explanation strikes at much of the criticism he's gotten from McCain and the GOP.

Today, I was honored by the Club for Growth with the Defender of Economic Freedom Award. 49 Members of the House and 6 Senators received the award as well.

This award is granted to those members who demonstrate a strong commitment to economic freedom and free-market principals.  In order to receive this award, reciepients must have earned at least a 90% rating on the Club for Growth’s most recent scorecard. 

For your convenience I have listed the winners below.

"Lots of speculation on the web, and in whispering circles, about why Obama's foreign trip--a slam-dunk success substantively and in photo-op terms (Obama laughing with Petraeus in the helicopter was the best)--hasn't resulted in a polling bump. The emerging conventional wisdom seems to be that the trip is a bit too grand, too...presumptuous and voters are wary of that. (And presumption, of course, always comes with the subterranean tinge of racism.) Maybe so."

"The hourly federal minimum wage will increase from $5.85 to $6.55 today, but few workers will see the extra 70 cents an hour in their checks."