OBAMA IN MOSCOW - AT 6:40 A.M. ET:  The president is not a star in Moscow.  Might be best not to play this town again:

MOSCOW — Let other capitals go all weak-kneed when President Obama visits. Moscow has greeted Mr. Obama, who on Tuesday night concluded a two-day Russian-American summit meeting, as if he were just another dignitary passing through.

Crowds did not clamor for a glimpse of him. Headlines offered only glancing or flippant notice of his activities. Television programming was uninterrupted; devotees of the Russian Judge Judy had nothing to fear. Even many students and alumni of the Western-oriented business school where Mr. Obama gave the graduation address on Tuesday seemed merely respectful, but hardly enthralled.

And one logical explanation:

In the background is the question of race, which Russians view through a complicated prism. For decades, Soviet propaganda hammered home the idea that the United States was an irredeemably racist country, as opposed to the Communist bloc nations. But Russia in recent years has been plagued by racist violence against people from the Caucasus region and Central Asia, as well as other immigrants.

COMMENT:  Recent years?  Russia has always been known as deeply racist, something the committed American left could never emotionally accept.  During the mid years of the Cold War, when Russia made major efforts to penetrate Africa, African students were invited to Moscow to study.  The problem was, they were often harassed and even beaten up.  Not good for the Russian image in, say, Kenya.

Also, Russians, especially older Russians, can be deeply cynical about politics.  Politicians have not, after all, traditionally served them well. 

The only thing that really counts is the results of the president's trip.  To soon to know, but no one was making any concessions to him.

July 8, 2009