Heh

He is good at sticking it to them, isn't he?

Obama said he was puzzled that the trip would be considered an "audacious" move for a politician less than four years removed from the Illinois state Legislature.

"I basically met with the same folks that John McCain met with after he won the nomination," Obama said. "Nobody suggested that that was audacious. I think people assumed that what he was doing was [talking] to world leaders who we may have deal with should we become president. That's part of the job that I'm applying for."

"I was puzzled by this notion that somehow what we were doing was in any way different from what Senator McCain or a lot of presidential candidates have done in the past," Obama told the journalists. "Now, I admit we did it really well, but that shouldn't be a strike against me."