Obama's world tour
ELECTION '08 | Campaign will hit Europe, Middle East in bid to plug foreign policy hole
WASHINGTON -- A splashy public speech in Germany. A wreath-laying at Israel's Holocaust museum. Perhaps a short side trip to the Palestinian West Bank. A visit to the palace of Jordan's king. Quick stops in Paris and London. They're all on the agenda of Sen. Barack Obama when the presumptive Democratic nominee takes his campaign overseas in the coming days.
The tour is designed to burnish Obama's national security and foreign policy credentials and beef up his image as a commander in chief with U.S. voters as he meets with international leaders. As long as Obama does not make a gaffe, the highly choreographed, nearly weeklong trip may plug what has been a lingering hole in his resume despite more than a year of campaigning.
(AP)
Offering a sample of his diplomatic skills, Obama ended a flap that developed in Berlin when he told his campaign he did not want to deliver a speech at the city's famous Brandenburg Gate. German Chancellor Angela Merkel wasn't crazy about Obama using the symbol of the Cold War and reunification as a backdrop for an eventual campaign commercial. Berlin's Mayor Klaus Wowereit said Obama could speak wherever he wanted, according to German press reports.
"The one thing that Barack made clear to us very early is that he did not think it made sense at all for him to speak at the Brandenburg Gate, which he thought perhaps would be too presumptuous," said Obama foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough.
"The trip is not at all a campaign trip, a rally of any sort," said Obama top adviser Robert Gibbs, who characterized the travel as "a series of substantive meetings with our friends and allies."
McCain campaign staffers have called it just that. "The truth of the matter is," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, "he is going to get extraordinary press coverage."
Faced with potential Obama saturation for coming news cycles, McCain next week will focus on domestic affairs in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado, while his team produces reams of research on Obama's alleged lapses in foreign policy. Obama has said he will be visiting Iraq and Afghanistan, though the campaign has not released details.
One packet distributed to reporters by the McCain campaign was even titled Obama's "official travel briefing," using the mock presidential seal Obama was forced to drop.
Reporters who will be on the plane with Obama have been asked to withhold some details about his itinerary for security reasons.
Obama will see leaders as well as their opposition counterparts, a standard courtesy for visiting officials. As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Obama has met -- either in person or on the phone -- most of the cast of officials he will see in the coming days.
Speaking on a conference call with reporters, McDonough said Obama will talk with Merkel, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and conservative Party leader David Cameron.
While in Jordan, he will see King Abdullah. In Israel, Obama will meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama also has sessions planned with Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
A purpose of the trip is to show "great potential for doing more together," said Susan Rice, one of Obama's top foreign policy advisers. Early on in the planning for the trip -- Obama officials declined to say when that started -- Obama "reached out" to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for a consultation.