Posted by
Cary Wesberry on Friday, July 18, 2008 8:35:13 PM
Isn't Barack Obama supposed to be campaigning for President of the United States instead of Prime Minister of the European Union? How silly of me, for Obama it's sort of the same thing. The New Messiah is simply taking a small tour of the countries in Europe where he will be spending most of his time after elected. After all, Barack has to learn how to lead from someone. Read on for the exciting itinerary:
(CNN) -- Democratic candidate Barack Obama heads overseas next week for a whistle-stop series of meetings with Middle Eastern and European leaders but with an eye firmly on the U.S. presidential race back home.
Sen. Barack Obama is expected to visit several world leaders over the next few weeks.
Obama's trip, which includes visits to Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, is intended to bolster his foreign policy credentials amid concerns that he has not convinced voters of his suitability to be the next U.S. president.
A spokesman for Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, said Obama will meet with her in Berlin on Thursday, The Associated Press reported Friday.
"This is the campaign trail via satellite -- pictures for the rhetoric back home," CNN's Candy Crowley said, adding that the trip was intended to demonstrate that Obama was up to the job of taking a lead role on the international stage.
"The question is, is he tough enough to stand up for America but graceful enough to improve her image?" Crowley said.
In a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, 48 percent of registered voters said Obama would make a good commander in chief, compared with 72 percent for his Republican rival John McCain.
Obama is also slated to visit Iraq and Afghanistan this month. No public schedule for those visits has been released for security reasons. "The message to voters back home is that he is focused on being a strong and effective commander in chief who is going to rehabilitate our image across the world," Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh said.
But a spokeswoman for McCain said Thursday that Obama's trip was politically motivated. "It's about politics. It's a way for Obama to try and compete on foreign policy," Jill Hazelbaker told the AP.
Obama is also scheduled to visit Afghanistan and Iraq this month with two Senate colleagues, Democrat Jack Reed and Republican Chuck Hagel. McCain has visited both countries and accuses his rival of naivete for suggesting that Iraq had distracted the United States from the growing conflict in Afghanistan.
"To say that Iraq is somehow disconnected from Afghanistan shows again incredible naivety," McCain said this week. A video released by the McCain campaign also accused Obama of "flip-flopping" over his plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.
At least Obama is going to breeze through Iran and Afghanistan. Seeing as how his newly reformed policy on the region has already been decided even before speaking with military leaders fighting the war, it's probably better late than never. For the sake of the war effort I very much hope that's true.
Evan Bayh says Obama is trying to show he can rehabilitate our image around the world. I'm starting to get a little tired of Democrats worrying more about how other countries view America than they are Congress' 9% approval rating; Even Bayh being a member of the party who brought Congress that embarrassing rating in the first place. I think at this point Americans are just a tad more concerned with high fuel prices, taxes, and national security than they are about how a bunch of socialists in a European stink hole feel about us.
72% of registered voters think McCain would be a better Commander-in-Chief than Obama. This could have something to do with Obama conjuring up military strategy in his woefully inexperienced mind without actually talking to anyone who is fighting the war, along with maintaining world opinion as a hallmark of his foreign policy vision.