Obama Trip Could Push Rock-Star Persona to New Heights

Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama’s upcoming abroad trip is not a campaign swing according to Obama advisers. Even so, the high-profile journey has all the trappings of a rock-star tour because Obama has generated so much interest that all three TV network news anchors are planning to accompany the candidate. While foreign media have reported daily on the impending visit. The Obama campaign revealed that Obama intends to meet with top U.S. allies while in Europe and the Middle East.

The real reason for the trip abroad is for Obama to build his foreign policy credentials overseas but at the end of the day, Obama's superstar persona might get the biggest boost from the trip. Many suggest that the type of exposure Obama will get particularly in Europe will be of enormous publicity and the fact that he has three news anchors with him, he's going to be in the news throughout every peak of his trip. Obama is literally recreating the kind of public whirlwind that he enjoyed at the height of the Democratic primary but only on a global scale now.

Now it should be pointed out that when Republican Presidential nominee John McCain made a similar trip overseas in March, he was accompanied by a few dozen members of the U.S. media. No network anchors made the journey but it was his eighth trip to Iraq. However it was his first since clinching the GOP nomination, which he had done just days earlier. Therefore Obama's trips could dwarf McCain's entourage as more traveling press accompany him and the media frenzy to photo and video as well as report on Obama's every move will be larger than McCain's and will be showcased in a much greater impact than McCain. While McCain's trip was barely covered, Obama's trip will perhaps get front page coverage throughout the American and International press community.

Now at the same time, Obama's campaign says that the 40 seats on campaign plane have already been filled after 200 reporters applied. So Obama will have a plane full when you add the security detail that will accompany. Unlike McCain who went to Iraq without being under the protection of the Secret Service, Obama is going overseas under the watchful eyes of both the Secret Service and foreign law enforcement in the countries he will visit. Obama advisers wanted to stress that Obama is not trying to play the role of President but the board goals of the trip are to deepen, even further, important relationships and to exchange views with the leaders in several countries whose partnership with the United States is really critical to our national security.

At the same time, Obama's advisers said that the Illinois Senator will not make policy or to negotiate because there is only one president of the United States at any given time and we will certainly honor and respect that by all means. Nonetheless, Obama's trip overseas should really be a huge boost to Obama's persona and his rock start image especially when he goes to Europe and makes a couple of speeches to crowds that will pack the streets of many European cities. While there are many security concerns to Obama's trip, the trip should be a test of Obama's world image and could ultimately give Obama the much needed distance he needs from McCain if his trip delivers many Americans with the image that Obama is the world Presidential candidate that America really needs to broker and repair Americans somewhat distorted image in the world.

However some say that Obama's trip overseas may be safer than campaigning in the United States as long as Obama avoids public appearances and sticks to his meetings with foreign dignitaries. It is clear that Obama's trip overseas will gain large national coverage and the crowd control should be an issue if Obama makes public appearances. That's why the trip overseas could be a very important to the Obama campaign but it won't necessarily get rid of all the questions that hunt Obama and his foreign policy credentials. One can learn more about a country by watching the History Channel than they do when going on many congressional delegations overseas.

However despite that, Obama cannot afford any slip ups while on this trip because of the intense international interest in his overseas trip. Obama cannot make any policy error or a statement error or else it will be magnified far beyond what it would otherwise be. While the trip should give Obama a platform to fend off McCain's foreign policy attacks, it still isn't like having proven results to boost in terms of foreign policy decision making. Now at the same time, the networks are taking some heat for devoting so m any resources to the trip and McCain aides have accused Obama of staging an overseas campaign "rally." McCain on the other hand said that the Obama trip is a trip that is welcomed and long over due.

McCain added that Obama is going to a very different Iraq if the U.S. military had listened to his advice about withdrawing troops. There would be chaos, an increase in sectarian violence and there would be widening Iranian influence. McCain went on to say that Obama might face disaster which is why McCain launched an attack on Obama in a new television ad accusing the Illinois Senator of switching positions on Iraq to help him become president. McCain has constantly supported the war in Iraq, even breaking away from President Bush on the surge. McCain suggested the surge long before Bush put it into place and McCain told the President and members of Congress that we must listen to the commanders on the ground in Iraq if we are going to be successful in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now McCain's 30-second ad, which will run on national cable and in 11 battleground states, is McCain’s first negative TV ad aimed at Obama. The McCain ad’s announcer says Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan, has not been to Iraq in years and opposed war funding. The announcer says these positions helped Obama win the Democratic nomination but he’s changing now to become president. While an Obama spokesman says that the ad is patently misleading negative ad. While Obama's trip should give him a helpful boost in his foreign policy credentials but McCain plans to show just how Obama has not been completely honest with the American people on where he truly stands.

For now Obama's trip is truly going to be a rock start type trip.

References:

Obama's Big Trip http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/18/politics/animal/main4274563.shtml