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Obama's Globetrotting
July 18, 2008 2:17 PM
Senior advisers to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, deigned to take a few minutes to share with us some information about the senator's pending visit to Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and the UK. Any possible pending trip the senator may make to Iraq and Afghanistan was not mentioned.
"This is not a political trip," said senior Obama adviser Robert Gibbs. "This is a trip of substance."
So why is the senator going?
"To deepen -- even further -- important relationships," said Dr. Susan Rice, a top foreign policy adviser to Obama. "To exchange views with leaders whose partnerships with the US are critical…To explore opportunities for enhanced cooperation on a range of issues, such as non-proliferation, counterterrorism, energy security and climate change, and a range of regional security issues….To explore concretely opportunities for cooperation between the US and our European and Mideast allies."
Rice underlined, "it is not our intent to make policy or negotiate…There's one president of the United States at any given time and we will certainly respect that."
So why go?
"There’s a great deal that Sen. Obama and his counterparts in these negotiations can take away," Rice said. There are an enormous range of challenges, and discussion will be valuable for all involved.
Where will Obama speak in Germany? The Brandenburg Gate or -- as has been widely reported in Germany -- at Berlin's Victory Column?
"Barack Obama made clear he didn’t think it made sense for him to speak at the Brandenburg Gate," Obama foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough said. Obama thought it seemed "too presumptuous," McDonough said.
The campaign would not say where Obama's speech in Germany will be.
The campaign is reviewing "a variety of locations in Germany, and we'll pick one that we believe meets our goals and the goals of our German hosts," said McDonough.
What will he speak about in Germany?
"It will be a substantive speech about European-American relations," Gibbs said.
Added McDonough: "Sen. Obama does want to underscore our shared values and goals and that's what he intends to do in Berlin."
What's the campaign's response to the assertion that this would seem like a political rally abroad?
“That’s not what we’re doing," Gibbs said. "The speech in Berlin will be a substantive speech about American and European relations. This trip is not at all a political trip. Or a rally of any sort. It is a series of substantive meetings with our friends and our allies to talk about the challenges we face and the national security demands for the 21st century”
Have you talked to the Bush administration about this trip at all?
"Early on in planning this process, Sen. Obama reached out to Secretary (of State Condoleezza) Rice and had a very productive conversation," said Rice, of no relation, "and we have been working with our embassies in each country.”
Who will come with him?
Obama will be accompanied on the trip by his advisers Rice, Gibbs, Dennis Ross, Jim Steinberg, Richard Danzig, Anthony Lake and Greg Craig.
With whom will he meet?
He will meet with the following world leaders:
Jordan: King Abdullah il bin al-Hussein II, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (الملك عبد الله الثاني بن الحسين)
Israel: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (אהוד אולמרט), President Shimon Peres (שמעון פרס), Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipora Malka "Tzipi" Livni (ציפורה מלכּה "ציפי" לבני), Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak (אֵהוּד בָּרָק) and leader of the Opposition in the Knesset Likud Party Chair Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (בִּנְיָמִין "ביבי" נְתַנְיָהוּ).
Palestinian National Authority: Mahmoud Abbas (محمود عباس) (aka Abu Mazen ابو مازن) President of the Palestinian National Authority and Dr Salam Fayyad (سلام فياض) Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority.
Germany: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Bundeskanzler Angela Merkel) and German Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeyer (Außenminister Walter Steinmeyer)
France: French President Nicolas Sarkozy (Président Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa)
UK: Prime Minister Gordon Brown and David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition
Also Rice and McDonough also took a few moments to suggest that, with President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talking this week about the need to send more U.S. forces to Afghanistan as well as embarking upon more direct negotiations with the Iranian government, "the Bush administration and the McCain campaign have moved closer to Sen. Obama's position," as McDonough put it.
Said Rice, "McCain and the Bush administration are trying to play catch up and follow."
- jpt
July 18, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (67)
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Some people should grow up cause I can sit here and type.
KEATING 5
KEATING 5
Over and over but that is dumb. Besides at least Mcsame was inmplicated in the keating 5. At least it would make more sense to do that because Mccain is GUILTY of it.
Posted by: Joe | Jul 18, 2008 5:03:28 PM
Obama epitomizes the audacity of arrogance. He should start by learning how many states compose the United States before presuming to pass himself off as a statesman in Europe and the Middle East. Perhaps he could become a contestant on "American Idol" although he would have to be provided with a teleprompter.
Posted by: judithod | Jul 18, 2008 5:00:48 PM
Sarah Talks Sense
If you can't see a difference here, you should go back into the kitchen and leave the talk to adults.
Posted by: A | Jul 18, 2008 4:55:05 PM
Nat Turner:
" I wish I could see your face when Obama takes the oath at the inauguration. "
Is this your assumption that Obama will win, or do you have a direct line to God?
Posted by: Billw | Jul 18, 2008 4:52:17 PM
Republicans are just jealous that people actually care about what Obama has to say... unlike crazy old man McCain.
Posted by: gary bonnarigo | Jul 18, 2008 4:50:02 PM
At elast Obama will be able to remember were he is and what he is talking about. Unlike Mccain who is like "whats a Shia or Mus..muslim I think thats what they are called.."
Posted by: Joe | Jul 18, 2008 4:45:37 PM
Wasn't McCain just complaining that Obama hadn't been to Iraq yet? Now he's complaing that Obama IS going to Iraq? Complain, complain, complain... McCain is just sounding like a cranky old man instead of a statesman like Obama.
Posted by: lemmy k. | Jul 18, 2008 4:45:33 PM
Barb in NM - he's not negotiating anything, as his campaign was careful to point out. It's just another lie from the failed Bush administration and their favorite hatchetwoman of color.
Posted by: Sarah Talks Sense | Jul 18, 2008 4:38:34 PM
Frieda - Obama is not taking his 300 advisors with him. He's meeting with them BEFORE he travels. And McCain travelled on the taxpayers' dime to Iraq NINE times - not to mention Colombia just the other week. I didn't hear you complaing then. Don't be a hypocrite.
Posted by: Sarah Talks Sense | Jul 18, 2008 4:36:14 PM
"There’s a great deal that Sen. Obama and his counterparts in these negotiations can take away," Rice said.
------------------
NEGOTIATIONS? What is he negotiating?
Posted by: Barb in MN | Jul 18, 2008 4:33:40 PM
Mcain is ready to use the FEAR CARD !!! remember what charlie black said???
Posted by: angie | Jul 18, 2008 4:16:12 PM
"Given the fact senator clinton voted yes to the war in iraq how do you feel she would be handiling our situation in afghanistan right now..."
Given Obama when able to vote voted for the war at every opportunity, I doubt what I feel makes any difference.
She said what she would do during the campaign. Sit down and consult with the joint chiefs about the most expeditious way to handle it. Obama said he'd start taking them out on day one without bothering to go there and determine the facts. Now he is following Clinton's lead. The facts on the ground are clear. More forces are needed in Afghanistan. Obama is playing with the lives of the troops.
Posted by: len | Jul 18, 2008 4:11:12 PM
Yestarday McCain said we have suceeded in Iraq. Today, he said he expects the presidential election this fall will increase the occurrence of "spectacular" terror attempts in Iraq.
So if we HAVE suceeded, how are they able to lunch this attacks?
Posted by: Jane Hussein | Jul 18, 2008 4:09:56 PM
300 foreign policy advisor,MY GOD!!
How many foreign policy advisor did
Sen.McCain have with him when he had
gone nine (9)times?
Posted by: vinnie | Jul 18, 2008 4:06:50 PM
len,
LOL, great post!
Posted by: Jane Hussein | Jul 18, 2008 4:06:09 PM
jane sez: I would like to finally have a POTUS that I can be proud of."
Me too. Unfortunately I'm stuck with these turkeys.
Posted by: len | Jul 18, 2008 4:00:20 PM
Another funny thing.........
McCain will have the United States all to himself while the future POTUS goes out on a diplomatic "Meet and Greet". Leaving him here all alone equates to leaving Grandpa alone in the house with no instructions on how to operate anything.
Unfortunately, he'll be scraping for any news he can get because all of the major players in media will either be with Obama or covering his every move in full and reporting back.
MCcain WHO?
Man, IS THIS ELECTION OVER YET? I'm toast....
J. McCan't
POTUS OBAMA - ITS INEVITABLE!!!
Posted by: Nat Turner | Jul 18, 2008 3:58:16 PM
LEN
Given the fact senator clinton voted yes to the war in iraq how do you feel she would be handiling our situation in afghanistan right now im curious never heard of her speak much about it unlike senator obama has spoke about afghan throughout the whole primaries???
Posted by: angie | Jul 18, 2008 3:55:57 PM
Listen to the Haters drinking Haterade!
Gotta Love It!
That means Obama is handily winning. Not only with the MAJORITY of Americans, but with the MAJORITY of the world as well.
The funny thing is the cynics don't have any other tools at their disposal to defeat Obama except whine. Errr, IT'S NOT WORKING!
You can't stop the inevitable......
POTUS OBAMA
GODSPEED OBAMA! GOD WILL PROTECT YOU!
OBAMA 08 - ITS INEVITABLE!!!
Posted by: Nat Turner | Jul 18, 2008 3:54:35 PM
Well I think this is good. It will give the European and Middle Eastern folks a good chance to see our new president.
I just find it amusing that everything Obama has proposed to go ahead with national security is starting to happen now. Even though the GOP (mcsame and W)
have called it appeasment. I don't understand how any TRUE patriot can trust the GOP anymore. They have been wrong on almost everything for 8 years and now they have to steal policy ideas from Obama and the democrats! LOL! He is so out of touch just like the rest of his party.
Posted by: Joe | Jul 18, 2008 3:51:53 PM
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