During Sunday's Meet The Press, NBC 's Tom Brokaw became the first major liberal news anchor to break rank from the media's lockstep love affair with Barack Obama by asking the first-time presidential candidate some rather and pointed questions.

Brokaw's questions were fired with the determination of a seasoned veteran, and were clearly the hardest balls thrown at the rookie, who seemed frazzled, stumbling as the sound of his swings were heard swishing time and time again.

There is no doubt that this was the poorest showing by the Democrat hopeful on U.S. television. Political pundits and gadflies can view the interview online at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25872549/

While the broadcast started by recounting Obama's desperate whirlwind European PR tour, Brokaw quickly focused on the "elephant in the room" - John McCain's attack upon Obama's refusal to admit his error in judgment in opposing the Surge in U.S. troops in Iraq.

Brokaw affirmed that analysts attribute the reduction in violence to the Surge, which allowed President Malaki to stabilize his government, while accusing Obama of engaging in "verbal kung fu" with the media over the Surge. Brokaw reviewed Obama's refusal to apologize for his past position, and his published statements that he did not regret his opposition to the Surge.

McCain Blasts Obama's Stubborn Commitment to Retreat & Failure

Brokaw then played the audio of the latest John McCain campaign radio ad, which was recorded in McCain's voice:

" Now that it's clear that the surge has succeeded, and brought victory in Iraq within sight, Senator Obama can't quite bring himself to admit his own failure in judgment. Instead, he commits the even greater error of insisting that even in hindsight, he would still oppose the surge. Even in retrospect, he would choose the path of retreat and failure for America over the path of success and victory. That's not exactly my idea of the judgment we seek in a commander-in-chief."

Brokaw confronted Obama with the video clip of Obama's statement of January 10, 2007, which Obama has repeated often:

"I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there, in fact, I think it will do the reverse."

Obama's Response Reinforces McCain's Assertions

Obama woefully attempted to backpedal furiously, claiming that the limited video clip Brokaw played failed to show his "earlier" statements to the effect that there would be "no doubt that additional U.S. troops could temporarily quell the violence, but that unless there was an underlying change in the politics in the country, then a civil war would occur."

Brokaw fired back immediately, suggesting that only with the additional U.S. troops were the Iraqis able to make the necessary decisions to move forward with the positive developments in their government. Obama then attempted to divert from Brokaw's point with platitudes about the great job of the U.S. troops, but then Obama attempted to make a claim that the political decision of the Sunnis in the Anwar province of Iraq to join the U.S. came before the Surge, desperately attempting to argue that the positive trends in Iraq were not solely attributable to the Bush/McCain strategy of the Surge.

This chicken/egg debate seemed only to emphasize that the situation in Iraq was going positively and Obama's attempts to cut such fine slices of the pie only reinforced McCain's point.

Obama pitifully attempted to respond to McCain's attack of his judgment by again diverting the direct issue of his judgment by listing a number of other past administrative decisions with which Obama disagreed. This pathetic attempt to avoid the direct issue of his refusal to admit the error of his judgment was simply glaring in the spotlight of this national TV audience.

Obama Flip Flops from Prior Promise to Bring Troops Home

Brokaw countered Obama's claim about the Anwar province by giving credit to the Surge in providing the Sunnis the needed help to make that decision. Obama again tried to minimize the recent U.S. success as resulting from the single factor of the surge, talking about a "phased redeployment" of troops to Afghanistan. As Obama's prior statements have emphasized bringing the troops, this statement only seemed to emphasize the fluid nature of Obama's policies being built on a foundation of quicksand.

McCain's Strategy Was Too Successful?

Brokaw then highlighted this past Thursday's editorial in USA Today, which stated:

" Why can't Obama admit the obvious? The surge worked. . Why . . . can't Obama bring himself to acknowledge the surge worked better than he and the skeptics thought it would? What does that stubbornness say about the kind of president he'd be?"

Obama then admitted that there was no doubt that the level of violence had been reduced more than anyone had anticipated, but argued that even President Bush and Senator McCain had not predicted such rapid predictions. Now, this brilliant display of logic dispensed by this Harvard graduate was so absolutely amazing that I'm still scratching my head. This is how I see Obama's logical argument: My opponent's strategy was more successful than anyone could have imagined, as compared to my personal strategythat was 180 degrees off the mark! Wow-what a command of the topic! What insight!

While Tom Brokaw's performance was a surprise, it was a surprise in only that finally a major news anchor was asking straight forward questions of Senator Obama, and not accepting Obama's general platitudes that had served him so well to this point. Brokaw's own skill in deftly handling the interview was as masterful as has been seen this political season, leaving only these 4 important questions:

1) Was Obama so unprepared for these straight-forward questions because he had assumed that as long as he stayed off of Bill O'Reilly's show, and kept reneging on his promise to meet McCain for impromptu town hall meetings, that he would continue to be able to fly under the radar all the way to the White House?

2) Why is the mainstream media not following up on Brokaw's interview of Obama, either in reporting on the event itself, or Obama's lackluster performance?

3) What has been the undercurrent of the media gossip over Brokaw's breaking rank with the liberal love fest, and has there been any backlash against Brokaw?

4) When will the remainder of the mainstream media wake up from their induced trance and truly vet this candidate?

In conclusion, Tom Brokaw has risen from the mire of the pit of mainstream media vipers who seem hell bent on pushing this rookie into the most important office in the world. Thanks, Tom - I think Walter Cronkite would be extremely proud of you. Now, as to the rest of the media - Tom has raised the bar. Will you rise to meet it or will you fail the country's need for dispatched objectivity and critical analysis of Obama's character, credibility, and judgment?