Obama’s Unprecedented Trip
Toward the end of his interview on CBS’s “Face The Nation” on Sunday, Barack Obama was asked by correspondent Lara Logan how much his foreign trip is aimed at allaying doubts about his readiness “to lead a country at war as commander in chief from day one.”
The candidate quickly brushed aside the question. The foreign policy experts and U.S. soldiers he had encountered in Afghanistan seemed not to have any doubts, he said. And then he added something far more revealing about how he sees his trip and his own prospects of winning the presidency.
For a politician just four years out of the Illinois state Senate and a presidential candidate who has not yet officially accepted his party’s nomination, it was a telling moment. Others may see foreign policy as a potential weakness in his candidacy, particularly in a contest against John McCain. Obama is not among them. That was revealed even more clearly when Obama expanded on the value of his trip.
“One of the shifts in foreign policy that I want to execute as president is giving the world a clear message that America intends to continue to show leadership, but our style of leadership is going to be less unilateral, that we’re going to see our role as building partnerships around the world that are of mutual interest to the parties involved,” he said. “And I think this gives me a head start in that process.”
Tags: pot, prospects, rush, Trip
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Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 6:18 pm under