Obama Wrapping Up Overseas Trip In U.K.

Presumptive Democratic Nominee Defends World Tour, Says It Will Help U.S. By Strengthening Ties With Allies

(CBS/AP)  Presidential contender Barack Obama defended his decision to travel to Europe and the Middle East on Saturday, saying that problems encountered by Americans at home are often best dealt with by working with allies overseas.

Obama, who spoke to reporters after wrapping up talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said he wasn't sure if there would be any immediate political impact from the trip - and that he wouldn't be surprised if there was a dip in some of the polls in the week since he left home. People in America, he said, are worried about gas prices and home foreclosures.

"The reason that I thought this trip was important is that I am convinced that many issues that we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad," he said.

"And unless we get a handle on Iraq and Afghanistan, not only are we going to be less safe, but it's also going to be a huge drain on resources."

Obama said he and Brown discussed a wide range of issues, such as climate change, terrorism and financial markets.

"The prime minister's emphasis - like mine - is on how we can strengthen the trans-Atlantic relationship to solve problems that can't be solved by any single country individually," he said.

The Democratic hopeful seemed relaxed as he strolled down to the prime minister's office at 10 Downing St., pausing briefly to shake the hands of two somewhat startled police officers standing near the door.

He turned to television cameras, smiled, waved and said "Hello," before walking into Number 10. Brown greeted him just inside the door.

Pooled television images showed Brown offering Obama a chair on the Downing Street terrace before the pair settled down for two hours of talks.

They later took a stroll in the sunshine around Horse Guards Parade, the vast open space where military reviews, such as Trooping the Color, are often held. Tourists snapped pictures from a distance while security guards walked ahead of the two men.

The walk offered a photo opportunity with a London backdrop for Obama, whose visit to Britain has been decidedly low-key, particularly after the huge crowds he drew earlier in the week in Germany.

Obama later said he had also wanted to take a walk through St. James' Park, but security guards pulled him and Brown back. The park is near Buckingham Palace, home of Queen Elizabeth II.

With the exception of the walkabout, British officials took care to make certain the same photo opportunities were offered to Obama as were given to Republican presidential contender John McCain during his visit earlier this year. Protocol normally dictates that visiting contenders be given the same treatment — thereby avoiding the appearance of any favoritism.

Obama stressed the importance of the bond between the two nations.

"We've been through world wars together. We speak a common language. We share a belief in rule of law and due process," he said. "We just like the people. There is a deep and abiding affection for the British people in America and a fascination with all things British that's not going to go away any time soon."

The Illinois senator also offered reassurance to Brown, whose plummeting popularity took another hit this week when he lost a parliamentary by-election in a Scottish seat long held by the governing Labour Party. But Obama pointedly said Brown didn't need his political advice.

"You're always more popular before you're actually in charge," Obama said. "Once you're responsible, then you're going to make some people unhappy."

Obama later met with Conservative leader David Cameron for a postcard moment, posing for photographs in front of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

Earlier, he met with former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is now a Middle East envoy. The meeting lasted for just over an hour.

Obama is on an election-season trip, financed by his campaign, that ends Saturday with talks with British officials. Part of his goal for the trip through Afghanistan, the Mideast and Europe has been to allow him to make his debut on an international stage in the hopes of reassuring skeptical voters in the United States about his readiness for the presidency.

On The Early Show, Republican strategist Kevin Madden said the risk for Obama on his overseas trip was that some American voters might believe the presumptive Democratic nominee was "more interested in Berlin, Germany instead of Berlin, New Hampshire.

"That's the big risk here. Does he look more interested in appealing to Europeans than the Americans facing everything from rising gas prices and unemployment?"

Mike Crowley, Senior Editor of the "The New Republic," said the images of Obama over the past week will only benefit him. "Barack Obama was a state senator five years ago," he said on The Early Show. "If people think he looks too presidential, he'll take that good news for him.

"He's going to come back, when this trip's over, hammering the kitchen table issues: gas prices, price of food. He's going to let people know he cares about that, [but he] had to get this done, show people 'I can do the world stage and do it well,' and I think he succeeded."

The visit has generated enormous interest in Britain, with the press pack stretching the length of the road outside the prime minister's office. Reporters stood five or six deep in some spots, squatting beneath scaffolding to get a good view.

"We're going to impose some discipline on this mob," Obama quipped before answering questions.

On Friday, he met for more than an hour with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

[likeitis5050]

It''s just a shame we can''t make Obama and Michelle more proud of us and our nation. It''s a cross to bear that he happens to be running for president in a nation he''s so embarrassed to say he''s from...but chin up...once elected he tout ALL the wonderful things of the USA after he makes some adjustments here and there. When he''s finished we''ll be a nation even Iran can be proud of...whooo hooooo!!!

[chad55555]

The only adjustment he will make is turning America into a country starving,no medical care,leaders begging the world for AIDS care and food to eat.He has no right thinking in is mind he is president already and putting America in so much danger.He is not even a REAL AMERICAN OR CHRISTIAN.I am ashamed of a country that would even let someone like this run for president.DOES ANYONE OUT THERE THAT HAS NOT BEEN BRAIN WASHED BY EQUAL RIGHTS KNOW HOW SERIOUS THIS IS AND THE DAMAGE IT WILL DO TO THIS COUNTRY. READ UP ON THE FALL OF ROME.HE DOES NOT SPEAK FOR A TRUE AMERICAN.

[ozonmojo]

Obama''s campaign will implode when more and more Americans realize that the whole spectacle he has been staging here and abroad is just a cross between a putative presidential campaign and a Hollywood movie.The sheer artificiality and make-believe quality of the show is a tribute to the tinsel town.

[whitemale08]

More "Golden Moments" from the "Golden One".

This is the kind of respect he already commands from around the world...It''s Exciting!!!

World Leaders greet him not with a spokesman or with entourages but in person and it''s a testament to his leadership skills and unique qualities as President.

After the total destruction to our Housing Industry, our$ Auto Industry, our Banking Industry and our economy that''s the worse since the Great Depression under possibly impeached George W. Bush, could America be so fortunate to have Barrack Hussein Obama resurrect the United States of America.

And not a moment too soon! YES!!!

[andylance1]

The fool did not go to Landstuhl
Bamm, no Ramstein, no press, no entourage
What a mess! What audacity! What a joke!

Without his handlers present, he might make a gaffe. Can''t rely on army photographs.
No chance to shoot hoops at a hospital of wounded soldiers. He didn''t show. NoObama.

[cbs4me3]

Remember that this guy was voting "present" 4 years ago in the Illinois state legislature. This spectacle with cameras and reporters in tow is as shallow as he is shallow in experience. Sadly, we taxpayers are paying for this extravaganza, and we all have limited resources. What a waste, considering he knows nothing and the German nationals won''t be voting in November. Meantime, John and his silent majority await November.

[mercurygrand]

Go over seas skip seeing the sick soldiers. Can not bring the cameras or reporters. No see. What a first class fake. A real attention diva.

[fstop100]

our tax dollars and resources being used for obama''s publicity campaign....very Un American

[emelder]

This trip WAS worthwhile. McSame asked him to go and Barack obliged. Looks like the trip was useful ... as well as helpful for Obama''s campaign. Go Obama!

[emelder]

MCvent at 09:17 AM:

You need to get a life ... you''re in here too often, always bashing Obama. Instead of the negative approach, why not promote your candidate''s strengths and his ideas? Why such fear of Barack Obama?

[jimr65]

According to CuttingEdge for July 23, 2008
http://cuttingedge.org/newsletters/index.html
Obama is not a natural-born US citizen, therefore not eligible to be US president. Quite likely, the press will bury this story.

[jimr65]

According to CuttingEdge for July 23, 2008
http://cuttingedge.org/newsletters/index.html
Obama is not a natural-born US citizen, therefore not eligible to be US president. Quite likely, the press will bury this story.

[jimr65]

According to CuttingEdge for July 23, 2008
http://cuttingedge.org/newsletters/index.html
Obama is not a natural-born US citizen, therefore not eligible to be US president. Quite likely, the press will bury this story.

[jimr65]

According to CuttingEdge for July 23, 2008
http://cuttingedge.org/newsletters/index.html
Obama is not a natural-born US citizen, therefore not eligible to be US president. Quite likely, the press will bury this story.

[wisertimer00]

Wow. That was fast. Didn''t even know he left.

[jimr65]

According to CuttingEdge for July 23, 2008
http://cuttingedge.org/newsletters/index.html
Obama is not a natural-born US citizen, therefore not eligible to be US president. Quite likely, the press will bury this story.

[jimr65]

According to CuttingEdge for July 23, 2008
See cuttingedge.org/newsletters/index.html
Obama is not a natural-born US citizen, therefore not eligible to be US president. Quite likely, the press will bury this story.

[jimr65]

According to CuttingEdge for July 23, 2008
(see cuttingedge.org/newsletters/index.html)
Obama is not a natural-born US citizen, therefore not eligible to be US president. Quite likely, the press will bury this story.

[txlakeside]

What a bunch of lieing Repub supports!

The repubs are relly worried .... as they should be!

Obama will be the next President!

[zerato-2009]

Thanks john mccain. Thanks for suggesting a trip to the war zones. The conditions were what obama thought when they got there. They needed more troops in afghanistan and need to get out of Iraq in 16 months.
Thank you john mccain for agreeing with obama about his 16 month plan to get out of Iraq. Thank you PM maliki for agreeing with obama about his timetable to get out of Iraq. Thank you George Bush for agreeing with obamas(horizon) timetable and adopting obama''s negotiation strategy with Iran.

Thank you netanyahoo for agreeing with obama''s plan for Israel. Thank you German citizens for turning out for obama berlin speech. Thank you PM merkel, PM Brown and President sarkozy for treating obama as an equal. Thank you networks for taking your lips off mccains hind quarters to cover the obama tour.

THank you Mccain for taking golf carts to press conferences and having press conferences in front of cheese displays and in sausage houses. Thank you Obama for your class and decorum during the trip.

[max0010]

Obama will lose because most Americans know the facts and will not be swayed by his fine speeches. The Berlin Wall did not come down because %u201Cthe world stood as one.%u201D The wall fell because of a decades-long, struggle against one of the greatest dictatorial and oppressive ideologies---communism. It was a struggle in which strong and determined U.S. leadership was constantly questioned, both in Europe and America. The Berlin Wall was built because of the cold-hearted opposition of communism toward freedom, not because there was a lack of communication. In today%u2019s world there are countries that have true and factual differences in values, morals and religious principals. It is these values like communism that have cause human conflict and suffering, not a failure to communicate.

[txlakeside]

If a US citizen has a child the child is a citizen. Period!

Repubs like to spread lies as the truth never got them anywhere.

[zerato-2009]

nObama is not a natural-born US citizen, therefore not eligible to be US president. Quite likely, the press will bury this story.
Posted by jimr65

Only Faux news reports lies as truth

[zerato-2009]

The New Yorker has this picture of Obama and Michelle in the oval office and she is holding up a black panther party poster and Obama is burning an American Flag..

Posted by MCvent

Do you know the differnce between a picture and a cartoon. Obviously not enough brains

[zerato-2009]

Learn spanish, learn french, .... Bite me Obama

Posted by MCvent

Mcvent is afraid of a little education. He could use some

[txlakeside]

These repubs here are racist''s and just afraid to admit it! They know that lies are better than the truth that they just hate black people. BTW .... I am a white middle aged man who will vote for the next President of the US!

[zerato-2009]

Obama says the surge didn''''t work in Irag but now he wants to have a surge in Afganistan, how strange....

Posted by MCvent

I remember when a surge was called an escalation. I guess mccain copyrighted the name

[zerato-2009]

Earlier today, John McCain released 1,200 pages of his medical records. Or, as his doctor calls it, Chapter One.

[zerato-2009]

We have a lot of work to do. It''s a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border." John Mccain referring to a border that does not exist, ABC News interview, July 21, 2008

Lacks geography experience

[dchu76]

McCain says Obama''s 16 months a ''good timetable''

[dchu76]

Obama says the surge didn''''t work in Irag but now he wants to have a surge in Afganistan, how strange....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by MCvet at 09:58 AM : Jul 26, 2008

Yeah because thats where we should have been all along, not fighting bushes war in iraq, al queda never was in iraq and never left afghanistan.

[dchu76]

McCain just said this afternoon that al Maliki''''s 16-month withdrawal time-line is a "pretty good timetable." Al Maliki took Obama''''s time-line. Now McCain takes al Maliki''''s time-line. Get it? Poor JukeBox John is like live fish flopping on a wet sidewalk.

[zerato-2009]

"There''s no doubt in my mind that we will prevail and there''s no doubt in my mind, once these people are gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators." John Mccain on the Iraq war, "Hardball" interview, March 24, 2003


He said he was right on Iraq

[dchu76]

Mccain the tail chasing senile senator. Had and affair with cindy and vicki iseman.

[hungry1968]

Obama says the surge didn''''t work in Irag but now he wants to have a surge in Afganistan, how strange....

Posted by MCvent at 09:58 AM : Jul 26, 2008





What''s strange is your inability to understand military tactics. If you''re LOSING in a war, you MUST do something to fix the problem - either withdraw completely and admit defeat, or escalate the effort. Since we were attacked by the terrorists based in Afghanistan and Pakistan, wouldn''t it make sense that we should FINALLY attempt to hunt them down?


Or would you rather do like Bush and McCain - pay the Pakistan government BILLIONS of dollars in "aid" to sign peace agreements with tribal warlords sympathetic to the Taliban, giving al Qaeda a safe haven?


One more thing - Obama said that we need two more brigades in Afghanistan to aid the effort. Later that day, McCain said that we need THREE more brigades (a classic case of "one ups-manship"). But two weeks earlier, McCain said that we were winning the war in Afghanistan, and that there were a sufficient amount of troops there to accomplish the mission. So:

1. Why aren''t you crying about McCain being a flip-flopper?

2. Why is McCain taking cues from Obama on how to best fight the war on terror?

3. Why does McCain seem so incompetent and uneducated on the war on terror - isn''t he an alleged "military expert" that "knows how to win wars"?

[timdgrim]

Obama Wrapping Up Overseas Trip In U.K.
***********************
Meanwhile... After touring cheese aisle and bratwurst sections McCain wraps up grocery store tour in Produce Department......

[dchu76]

McCain''s advice for the mortgage crisis.

McCain encouraged Americans to homeowners "doing what is necessary -- working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets -- to make their payments on time."

Remember that he has lobbyists from the mortgage industry on his staff.

[zerato-2009]

Vote against BIG MEDIA.

Vote against Obama..
Posted by MCvent

Forget the issues just vote to be vindictive. (end sarcasm)

[dchu76]

McCain has cost america 100,000 jobs and $100 billion dollars. He campainged for Airbus(europe) to get and got them the Army contract, and then profited and stood by for the sale of AnhauserBush to inbev(belgium).

Mccain also was against raising the minimum salary.

[dchu76]

McCain the stupid. He placed fifth from the bottom of his class at Annapolis only avoiding academic expulsion because his father and grandfather were Navy admirals. He has zero academic achievements and really no military leadership experience. Despite being in Washington D.C. for nearly thirty years, the thing he is most remembered for is the Charles Keating 5 scandal in which he protected his benefactor who was busy defrauding old people of their life savings. He never apologized for this except saying, " I showed poor judgment."

He was wrong about allowing Bush to go to war, and he is wrong on every major issue facing our country. Many times he doesn''''''''t even remember his position on critical votes. He might not be stupid, but if you believe that, you will have to agree that he is either delusional or devious.

[dchu76]

John McCain the candidate who lost to George Bush in 2000. Do we really want to stoop that low for a president. McCain''''s presidency will make Bushes term look like eden.

[hungry1968]

Posted by MCvent at 10:06 AM : Jul 26, 2008





A classic case of incompetence and a weak debate is resorting to posting and re-posting the same nonsense over and over again.

Especially when it doesn''t make sense the first time around.

[zerato-2009]

DEMONIC-RATS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN COMMUNISTS,,,


Posted by terrorislamv

YOu have no idea waht communism is

[dchu76]

I am totally dismayed at this caricature of a presidential candidate named John McCain.

He let the lobbyists draw his image. FlipFlop McCain.

[dchu76]

I am totally dismayed at this caricature of a presidential candidate named John McCain.

Someone please take the microphone away from this doddering, angry, and ignorant senior citizen. He is becoming very frightening for me and my family by his rants about " I know how to win wars." I am beginning to believe that war is all that he has to offer our country. By the way, which war has McCain "won?"
His beloved "Surge" was not successful. Its purpose was to give the Iraqi government the stability it needed to make needed reforms and bring all parties together. American taxpayers paid billions to faction leaders to leave our troops alone. We placed thousands of concrete barriers in Baghdad to keep the Shia from slaughtering the Sunni and vice versa. We enacted curfews to keep people off the streets. Still according to Iraqbodycount.com, the city is the most dangerous place in the world. Maybe McCain will host a barbecue for his beloved media in the middle of all this. Flak jackets mandatory, of course.

The "surge" did not succeed other than reducing American casualties. Iraq is still in chaos with over 100 civilians dying each week, thousands of refugees leaving, and no running water, sewage, or electricity in a majority of the homes.

[hungry1968]

McCain''''''''s presidency will make Bushes term look like eden.

Posted by dchu76 at 10:11 AM : Jul 26, 2008





I disagree.

You really wouldn''t be able to tell the difference when one left and the other took over.

[irliberal]

I see the neocons are crying more than ever today. Good job overseas, Obama. Way to show ''em how it SHOULD be done. 8-)

[dchu76]

McCain just said this afternoon that al Maliki''''s 16-month withdrawal time-line is a "pretty good timetable." Al Maliki took Obama''''s time-line. Now McCain takes al Maliki''''s time-line. Get it? Poor John McDumb is like live fish flopping on a wet sidewalk.

[hungry1968]

Obama said that we need two more brigades in Afghanistan to aid the effort. Later that day, McCain said that we need THREE more brigades (a classic case of "one ups-manship"). But two weeks earlier, McCain said that we were winning the war in Afghanistan, and that there were a sufficient amount of troops there to accomplish the mission. So:

1. Why aren''t the righties crying about McCain being a flip-flopper?

2. Why is McCain taking cues from Obama on how to best fight the war on terror?

3. Why does McCain seem so incompetent and uneducated on the war on terror - isn''t he an alleged "military expert" that "knows how to win wars"?

[dchu76]

McCain''s advice for the mortgage crisis.

McCain encouraged Americans to homeowners "doing what is necessary -- working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets -- to make their payments on time."

Remember that he has lobbyists from the mortgage bankers on his staff, what else would you expect from the machurian candidate.