McCain ready to pounce on slips as Obama prepares for world tour.
I find it simply astonishing that the media are presenting Obama's trip to the Middle East and Europe as a potential minefield where, if he makes one slip up, John McCain sits ready to pounce, showing that Obama is inexperienced in foreign affairs.
And yet that is the puppy they are trying to sell us here:
Apparently, the chancelleries of Europe are quaking in their boots, unaware of what Obama has in store for them. This would imply that members of the European Union and the Israelis don't have satellite television and can't even keep up with a broadsheet to find the stance of the Democratic candidate.A single misstep, an off-the-cuff foreign policy initiative or even a mispronounced name will be pounced on by his Republican rival, John McCain, as evidence that he is a naïf in the one area over which a president has most say – US foreign policy.
"I believe that either today or tomorrow – and I'm not privy to his schedule – Senator Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators," Mr McCain said yesterday, piercing the veil of security surrounding his rival's itinerary.
There are hazards aplenty as the Democratic candidate travels into the conflict zones of Iraq, Afghanistan and the West Bank, before he arrives in western Europe during the second half of the week.
He is the first black candidate with a shot at the presidency, and is likely to be met by an adoring public, but there is nevertheless anxiety in the chancelleries of Europe.
This is simply piffle. The McCain team are furious that a trip by Obama is being given such a disproportionate amount of attention compared with McCain's trip abroad a few months ago. And, in an attempt to spin something out of this trip, they wish to portray McCain as the wise old owl waiting for the young whippersnapper to make some embarrassing gaffe.
The truth is much more mundane. For ten days Obama will have the press eating out of his hand as he shows the folks back home as he wades through adoring crowds that America could be loved again.
There will be a lot of eyes on him but, as long as he doesn't make any major slip ups, such as confusing Shia and al Qaeda, or thinking that Czechoslovakia still exists, then he'll be fine."If Obama says he represents a new politics, he's certainly smashing an old paradigm by going," presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, of Rice university in Texas, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "And for 10 days, he'll own the media. It's gigantic for him."
The main purpose of the trip is to persuade the American public that he is ready to become the US commander in chief. A Washington Post/ABC news poll this week highlighted a need to close the gap with his Republican rival John McCain on foreign affairs. Almost three-quarters of respondents said McCain would be a good commander-in-chief, compared with fewer than half expressing similar sentiments about Obama.
On this trip, Obama has to look and sound the part of commander-in-chief, demonstrating detailed knowledge of foreign policy and appearing comfortable in the company of foreign leaders. Above all, he has to avoid making any slip that could be seen as reflecting inexperience.
"There will be a lot of eyes on him, and we know that," David Axelrod, his chief strategist, said.
The irony here is that McCain, the man who makes more slip ups in a week than I had previously thought possible, wants us to watch out lest Barack Obama should mispronounce some foreign leaders name. For then, and this is seriously the script they are trying to punt, his inexperience next to McCain's will be highlighted.
I've pointed out several times before how this appears to be a never ending media narrative in which Obama's wild popularity is never actually the story, the story is always how this actually plays into McCain's hands.
Now we are asked to watch - not the adoring crowds Obama produces across Europe - but the wise old owl in the US waiting for him to commit a gaffe.
If it wasn't so ridiculous it would be funny.
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