OBAMA TRYING TO SET A WORLD RECORD?

Sure looks that way:

Faced with the worst domestic economy in decades, the president has responded -- by setting a record for foreign travel. An Asian swing that began Thursday will bring his total this year to 20 countries in eight trips, according to CBS News's Mark Knoller, official statistician of the White House press corps.

That easily bests the previous record-holder, George H.W. Bush, who hit 14 countries in his first year. By the time he returns next week, Obama will have spent more than 12 percent of his presidency overseas -- and he still has another trip or two in the works for this year....

BHO is stroking his own ego on the American taxpayers' backs:

By some measures, in fact, foreigners have a more favorable view of Obama than Americans do.

Eighty-six percent of Britons, 88 percent of Canadians, 91 percent of French and 93 percent of Germans say they have confidence in him. So do 85 percent of Japanese, 88 percent of Nigerians and 77 percent of Indians. All those figures trump Americans' confidence in their own president -- 74 percent when the poll was done in the spring.

That could explain why Obama seems to enjoy spending so much time with the foreign media....