WASHINGTON, July 17, 2008
Obama's Foreign Trips Carry High Stakes
Meetings With Foreign Leaders Offer Chance To Brandish Foreign Policy Credentials
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Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., arrives at Midway International Airport in Chicago, Wednesday, July 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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"The stakes are very high for Obama," said Lee Hamilton, president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a supporter of the Illinois Democrat.
While Obama currently leads in the polls, "foreign policy is one area where they (voters) have their doubts" about him, Hamilton said.
Campaign officials have announced stops in Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England. Obama also has pledged to travel to Iraq and Afghanistan this summer, but aides have not said whether those war zones will be part of the same trip.
The trip is planned to put Obama into settings often occupied by presidents, including formal meetings with foreign leaders, public speeches and visits to historical sites.
"It's an opportunity for him to sit down with the international leaders with whom he would have to work as president of the United States, and discuss some of the issues," said David Axelrod, the campaign's senior strategist.
Obama has been critical of Bush's foreign policy in his campaign for the White House, but Hamilton said the Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting must tread lightly. "Criticizing foreign policy in Washington in one thing. Criticizing it in Berlin" is another, he said.
"There will be a lot of eyes on him, and we know that," Axelrod said, when asked about the risk of politically damaging errors.
Less than four months before the election, Obama's trip comes at a time when he leads Republican rival John McCain in many polls but runs no better than even on many foreign policy questions.
In a recent Washington Post-ABC poll, 72 percent of those surveyed said McCain knew enough about world affairs to serve effectively as president, compared to 54 percent for Obama.
The two men were in a statistical tie when voters were asked who was more trusted to handle the situation between Israel and the Palestinians or the war in Iraq.
Whatever he says or does, Obama will be under scrutiny from Republicans eager to raise doubts about his readiness to handle foreign and defense policy.
"This trip is about politics. It's a way for Obama to try and compete on foreign policy," said Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's communications director.
McCain has left the country twice this summer, once for Canada and a second time to visit Colombia and Mexico. In both cases his principal goal was to express support for expanded trade.
At home, Obama has struggled to consolidate his support among Jewish voters wary of his commitment to Israel.
And while Obama is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Ohlmert, Palestinian officials have announced he will visit the West Bank. McCain did not meet with Palestinians in his most recent visit to the Middle East in March.
"We welcome this meeting," Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian negotiator, said recently. He added that if Obama is elected "we hope he will stay the course between Israel and the Palestinians in reaching peace and a two-state solution." Bush is trying to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians before leaving office in January.
Obama stirred controversy in June with a speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in which he endorsed a two-state Israel-Palestine settlement, yet said Jerusalem should remain both the capital of the Jewish nation and undivided.
Palestinian leaders quickly rejected the statement. "...We will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state," said Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and the next day, Obama backpedaled.
"Well, obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations," he said in a CNN interview. He added that "as a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute" a division of the city.
Stops in Western European capitals are standard for U.S. politicians seeking to burnish foreign policy credentials, and Hamilton said government leaders are eager to meet the candidate.
Campaign aides have disclosed almost nothing of the European itinerary.
Controversy preceded Obama to Germany when aides sought to use the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin as the site for a speech.
Chancellor Angela Merkel was less than enthusiastic, dispatching spokesman Thomas Steg to say she had "only limited understanding for using the Brandenburg Gate as an election campaign backdrop, as it were, and has expressed skepticism about pursuing such plans."
Obama's campaign spokesman Bill Burton responded that the Illinois senator has "considered several sites for a possible speech, and he will choose one that makes most sense for him and his German hosts."
Constructed in 1791 as a symbol of peace in Germany, the gate stood for 28 years during the Cold War at the heavily fortified Berlin Wall that blocked off communist East Germany's sector of the divided city. Probably the capital's best-known monument, it has been restored as a national symbol for a reunified Germany.
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Bush has made such a disaster out of the Middle East that it looks like a scene out of the movie ''Children of Men''.
I doubt he will be able to get us out of there like he promised in 16 months
But what''s more important for us Americans is that no Bush, Hillary or any Republican for that matter, try to claim victory or take credit for ending the war in Iraq.
That''s how History will reward Barack Obama with victory in Iraq and punish Bush and Cheney with failure.
Keep Safe, You are the chosen one; the last hope for America.
Now that''s a real KILLER!
Hahahahaha! OMG!
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Posted by whitemale08 at 09:09 PM : Jul 17, 2008
OH FER PETE''S SAKES! The man is just another political HACK!
Get real!
This is the most egregious and disgusting display of left wing media bias in broadcast history.
Network Pigs... Unmitigated ho''s.
Posted by aj4321 at 10:47 PM : Jul 17, 2008
What a jerk you are. Obama is a terrorist. Why else would HAMAS endorse Obama.
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Posted by johnmcsame
Right back at ya. spreading faux info...what a jerk you are. Hamas wants peace and that''s why they are hoping for someone with a brain and good judgement instead of following the right-wing propaganda to unconditionally back Isreal''s never-ending warring with its neighbers.
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Posted by whitemale08
Luke, I am your father!!!!
You know how a lot of women seem to be fascinated with Marilyn Monroe - like Anna Nicole Smith, Madonna, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, etc so then they all try to mimic her in her mannerisms and stuff? I swear Barack comes across like he''s obsessed in that same way with JFK, RFK, and MLK - like he''s trying to emulate them not necessarily in terms of how they pursued their craft, but in wanting to channel like the ''mystique'' that we imagine they must have had by emulating the ''aura'' they give off? He even went and surrounded himself with JFK''s daughter by hiring her to be his VP vetter . . . isn''t that a bit like how Nicolas Cage who keeps making those Vegas/Elvis movies went and surrounded himself with Elvis'' daughter (by marrying her)?
I don''t know what to think about that - because like Marilyn, JFK, RFK, MLK were all revered in their chosen fields, but didn''t they get elevated to iconic status partly because of their tragic and unexpected deaths which tends to get people wondering about what might have been?
I don''t know . . . I guess the concern is that hopefully we''re not just getting all swept up in the mannerisms such that nobody''s double-checking to see whether Barack''s working just as hard to replicate JFK''s actual leadership abilities (?)
A: Name all 57 states and
B: Give a speech to Memorial Day survivors
A: Name all 57 states and
B: Give a speech to Memorial Day survivors"---
Posted by the57states
Before he''s elected, it''d be interesting to see him accept Sean Hannity''s invitation to go on H&C. RFK is before my time, but would he have been the kind of guy to go to Glamour Magazine to complain about news coverage (even if it IS Faux News)? :o
A: Name all 57 states and
B: Give a speech to Memorial Day survivors
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John McCain should explain:
A: Women who likes to be raped by apes
B: Czechoslovakia
C: Shia vs. Sunni
D: Al-qaeda in Iran
E: Viagra vs. Contraceptive
F: Whining Americans
G: Psychological Recessions
.................. the list goes on and on ..........
Love it or loath it, Barack Obama is increasingly looking very presidential.
Perhaps this vibrant 21st century candidate simply offers voters a fresh choice.
Maybe its the dynamic, inspiring, potential for a new political stamina to stay the course of change to what ever degree it may be, when it occurs.
Many citizens appear just to be happy to reach for the stars and grasp the Obama dream that a potential or hope for some change, any change in American politics is still possible in this great country.
Voters have endured years of status quo candidates. So called progressive politics has been sound bite talk, stifled under a frustrating and increasingly arrogant one dimension political stagnation.
So many average, decent, hard working, tax paying, Americans are yearning for something, anything new to give political change a chance.
Why despite all the criticism, all the doom and gloom, all the negative rhetoric, despite whatever obstacles that have been there has this candidate has made it to this point?
There is no perfect time, no perfect candidate, and no perfect policies.
America seems to grow, better itself, and progress as a nation when we are forced to make leap of faith, pushed forward vs. nudge forward, big fix, grand scale, go for it, leaps and bounds, dynamic and dramatic changes.
It may just be time for such a personified chance of change.
It may just be Barack Obama time.
My disgust level is so far off the meter It can%u2019t be measured in this universe.
I%u2019d rather roll in pig slop than listen to that man anymore.
OBAMA HAS BEEN GOADED INTO GOING TO THE MIDDLE EAST WHERE ALL THESE COUNTRIES NOT TO MENTION HALIBURTON, BIG OIL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, ECT.
HAVE A GREAT DEAL TO LOSE IF HE IS ELECTED PRESIDENT!
THEY WILL HAVE HIM HIT!
This is grandstanding of the worst kind. If the man wants to see things firsthand, he needs to travel low key and truly get out there. You can''t do that as part of a traveling circus. Instead he''s planning staged photo ops, like any other actor - he''s going to pretend he''s President and carry the media along with him. Big whoop.
It''s stuff like this that tells me Obama isn''t ready to lead this country. I''m no fan of McCain either, but this isn''t statesmanship, it''s bad theater.
PERFECT POST, THANKS!
Posted by Ariel133
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I see that McCain is still advertising on his website for people to make comments on the blogs for him. I think you are going to be replaced Ariel133. You are hurting McCain because people now wonder if all his supporters are nutcases like you.
This is grandstanding of the worst kind. If the man wants to see things firsthand, he needs to travel low key and truly get out there. You can''''t do that as part of a traveling circus. Instead he''''s planning staged photo ops, like any other actor - he''''s going to pretend he''''s President and carry the media along with him. Big whoop.
It''''s stuff like this that tells me Obama isn''''t ready to lead this country. I''''m no fan of McCain either, but this isn''''t statesmanship, it''''s bad theater.
Posted by greeneyes222 a
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It is easy to tell what was covered on talk radio each day. All the submissive personalities hit the blogs, cutting and pasting the same drivel.
Ever consider thinking for yourself, instead of allowing multi millionaire bloviated talking heads telling you what to think?
Posted by Credibility2
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You mean more credibility and experience like your hero George Bush had. You remember , the one who had to get his first passport before he became President so he would be allowed to travel overseas. The one who had been too much of a coward to ever travel overseas before, but was told by Karl Rove, he would have to if they were going to make him President?
Yes your hero,George W. Bush, the one with so much experience and knowledge he didn''t even know the names of any of the foreign leaders or which countries they led. He had Condi Rice teach him how to read a map and she pointed out to him which parts of the world the countries were located that he should know about. She tried to tutor him on how to pronounce the names of the people and their countries but that was a lost cause, as he embarrassed himself and all Americans on the world stage over and over again.
PS. Ariel133 is actually very accurate- and the nutcases don''t ses it.
Obama''s Iraq policy: Ready, fire, aim.
The sure sign of an amateur.
We''ve had one unqualified amateur in office for 8 years now, and Obama is less qualified than Bush was. A vote for Obama is a vote for the same boneheaded mistakes Bush has made.
Who is Obama representing? And what exactly has he done in his lifetime to merit appropriating the Brandenburg Gate as a campaign prop? What was his role in the fight against communism, the liberation of Eastern Europe, the creation of what George Bush 41 -- who presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall but modestly declined to go there for a victory lap -- called "a Europe whole and free"?
There''s nothing new about narcissism in politics. Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president. Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements?
Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted "present" nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.
For the first few months of the campaign, the question about Obama was: Who is he? The question now is: Who does he think he is?
Hey here''s some jokes mccain likes to tell:
Q: Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
A: Her father is Janet Reno.
he has great judgement dont you think?
The French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who is still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn''t have the face for it McCain told fox news a few years ago.
mccain responded to a question with the line, "And I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago," provoking a round of tut-tutting for his reference to the old classic example of a leading question.
Another favorite has been the elderly. He has recalled groveling for forgiveness when, during his 1986 campaign, he referred to a retirement community called "Leisure World" as "Seizure World."
''The nice thing about Alzheimer''s is you get to hide your own Easter eggs.''"
Posted by PeterP111 at 11:32 AM : Jul 18, 2008
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TOTAL NONSENSE. Reagan didn''t do anything to cause the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union came apart because of economic problems that had nothing to do with Reagan. The fact that the Soviet Union came apart while Reagan was president was nothing more than coincidence. In fact, Reagan was losing it: he was citing events in movies as thought they were actual events. I think his Alzheimer set in much earlier than we were led to believe.
McCain supposedly asked the crowd if they had heard "the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die?"
The punch line: "When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, "Where is that marvelous ape?"
Back in 1998, he odiously declared before a GOP crowd: "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."
More recently he joked that it might be good for the United States to keep exporting cigarettes to Iran as cancer would prove an effective weapon against that country''s citizens
Posted by PeterP111 at 11:32 AM : Jul 18, 2008
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You idiot! Obama was still in law school What did stupid Bush do to "fight communism"? Not a *** thing.
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