Is U.S. Sen. Barack Obama full of hubris?

Some people think so, including our corporate overlord, Stephens Media LLC President Sherm Frederick. He said as much in his Sunday column in the Review-Journal.

Frederick cites Obama’s excellent adventure overseas, and a visit to Washington, D.C., quoting a Washington Post item about the event:

“The 5:20 TBA turned out to be his adoration session with lawmakers in the Cannon Caucus Room, where even committee chairmen arrived early, as if for the State of the Union. Capitol Police cleared the halls — just as they do for the actual president. The Secret Service hustled him in through a side door — just as they do for the actual president.

“Inside, according to a witness, he told the House members, ‘This is the moment … that the world is waiting for,’ adding: ‘I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.’ ”

Sounds fairly arrogant, right? But let’s take a closer look.

First, there’s little doubt that Obama’s going to generate applause overseas. He’s the first American with a chance of sitting in the Oval Office that most Europeans have seen in eight years who’s not a warmonger. If the Germans and the French opposed the war, and Obama is all about ending the war, what would surprise anybody about the fact that they like Obama but dislike, say, President George W. Bush?

Second, Obama is under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service. They do things like ask police to clear hallways, move protectees around in motorcades and bring people in side doors. It’s called doing their job.

Obama’s rival U.S. Sen. John McCain is also under Secret Service protection. We don’t hear much about McCain being arrogant, even after a legitimate news reporter was kicked out of a holding area.

Third, the quote in question was taken completely out of context by the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, whom Frederick is quoting in his own column. Obama’s actual quote was this:

“It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign — that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It’s about America. I have just become a symbol.”

“It’s not about me at all.” Well, that certainly sounds like hubris, doesn’t it?

No, actually the hubris belongs to Milbank, who instead of apologizing for his error (which appears to have been based on another Washington Post writer’s reporting) called critics whiners. And when some of those critics turned out to be the staff at Countdown with Keith Olbermann — where Milbank had appeared for four years but which banned him from appearing on-air until he issued an explanation — Milbank simply decided to jump ship and join CNN instead.

For that record, that’s what hubris looks like.