Posted on 07/19/2008 10:00:44 AM PDT by Coffee200am
Barack Obama's campaign has rejected Republican claims that his five-nation Middle East and Europe tour is a political stunt, as it unveiled a packed agenda of talks with leaders.
Campaign spokesman said the Illinois senator would avoid negotiating or trying to make policy during the meetings, in deference to the duties of current President George W Bush.
The campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain has branded Senator Obama's tour, which is expected to draw massive media coverage, as nothing more than a political stunt, especially as it will include a high-profile speech in Berlin.
"That is not what we are doing," Senator Obama's communications adviser Robert Gibbs said
"The speech in Berlin will be a substantive speech about American and European relations, the trip is not at all a campaign trip, a rally of any sort, it is a series of substantive meetings with our friends and allies."
Senator Obama's foreign policy aide Susan Rice said the Illinois senator would discuss issues including climate change, non-proliferation and counter-terrorism in his five-nation tour.
"It is important to note that it is not our intent to make policy, or negotiate, we will not do so, there is one president of the United States at any given time, we will certainly honour and respect that," she said.
But the campaign did not give timings or locations for the talks and meetings, apparently due to security concerns.
In Jordan, where local officials say he is expected on Monday, Senator Obama will meet King Abdullah II.
In Israel he will meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, President Shimon Peres, Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Opposition Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
He will also hold talks with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, the campaign said, but would not confirm reports from Ramallah that the Senator would travel to the West Bank to do so.
The campaign also said it had not yet decided where Senator Obama would give a speech in Berlin, following controversy over a reported attempt to hold an event at the highly symbolic Brandenburg Gate.
However, senior adviser Ben Rhodes said that Senator Obama had recognised that it would be presumptuous to speak at the gate, site of a famous appearance by former president Ronald Reagan in 1987.
In France, Senator Obama will hold talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy, and at the end of his tour he will meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Opposition Conservative Party leader David Cameron.
They called it!
Let me tell you something: it won’t be long at all till the left is insisting that people in these countries be allowed to vote in American elections. The supreme court will be taking a very close look at the idea, and their reaction will not be at all unfavorable.
The argument will be along these lines: America, as the world’s only remaining superpower, has such an overwhelming effect on the lives of people abroad that they should be allowed to vote in our elections, out of a sense of fairness.
No, nothing this guy ever does is about politics.
And to that I say, BULL!
Right?
I think that speech he’s giving in Germany has political disaster written all over it. I imagine that a few hundred thousand adoring Euro lunatics are going to show up and, with the help of the media, its going to look like they’re coronating their new savior.
That ain’t gonna play well back here in the US, I don’t believe. His loony followers will love it, but its going to scare the hell out of everyone else.
Watch him bash President Bush in a speech, directly or indirectly..
Onion, right? This MUST be satire.
Just long enough to go to the airport gift shop, get a pressie photo taken, visit the head, make sure the passport was stamped and reboard the plane.
Yet they have the NERVE to say is not a campaign stunt! POOO-LEEEEE-ZZZ!
He was in Afghanistan long enough for a refueling, a giftshop visit, and a photo.
The guy is an "unwise" politician with a big, fat ego.
They're already doing it.
Here's one example.
Yeah, it just HAPPENED to come during the campaign, and this same laughable "senator" has never once made any effort to visit these countries until now ...
Or how about because he has no standing to negotiate anything except maybe his cab fare?
Wow. I had no idea my idea would come true so soon. Thanks.
ROTFL!!! They must think everyone living in this country is as dumb as their voter base. Or maybe they were just speaking to their voter base.
WHO IS PAYING THE EXPENSES OF THIS JUNKET?
If the taxpayers are — and it’s a “fact finding” trip, why all the Leftist Speaking Heads in tow?
If the Obama campaign is paying the expenses, then by definition it is a campaign photo op and propaganda tool.
Obama lies and shit attracts flies..... The natural state.
If the Obama campaign is paying the expenses, then by definition it is a campaign photo op and propaganda tool.
I admit that I don't know how it is these days but in the past, while riding on campaign charters the press corps and such paid 150 percent of the one way first class fare for the trip. That removed the stigma of it being a bribe to the press. Somehow I don't think that rule is still in effect. Anybody know?
Well - I'm happy this PRESUMED DNC CANDIDATE hasn't decided to bypass the niceties of NOMINATION and ELECTION before he assumed the duty of our sitting President.
The arrogance and ignorance of Obama's staff is breathtaking - to feel they even have to point out that Obama will not start acting as President before he is elected President...
Obama has surrounded himself with fools...
But them - his entire electorate must qualify as fools to see anything of "hope" in this affirmative action racist and overreaching unaccomplished lightweight.
The problem being... If it looks, acts and walks like a duck, then it's probably a duck. And everybody, including much of the American electorate, sees this as a political stunt, because it looks, acts and walks like a political stunt.
With 70% of the medias attention going to Barry O, all the daily tracking polls give him a whopping 1 to 4 point advantage over McLaim. And if the Bradley Effect is taken into account, McCain is probably ahead of him most tracking polls. LOL
Very good but could be considered an insult to the movie. LOL
Obama’s campaign would never lie to us about anything.
I’m always surprised by these political advisors’ very low opinion of the public’s intelligence.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t a great many of our ancestors leave Europe because they were tired of being kicked around there? Now we’re supposed to be concerned about what they think of our political campaign?
Obama and the liberals should go live in Europe.
“Welcome to Bizarro World where everything is opposite!”
Only to stupid liberal politicos and their equally stupid enablers in the news media.
Of course, you’ll NEVER hear the Euros suggesting that Americans ought to be able to vote in their elections.
Yes it is.
If it weren't a stunt, they wouldn't have felt the need to 'unveil' their agenda, stressing the 'leaders' with whom Obama is meeting.
How many times has John McCain been to Iraq, and we never knew it, because he didn't make a big deal show of it? The MSM certainly didn't follow him around like smitten puppy dogs.
Tis is one of those non-stunt stunts
You beat me to it. I just couldn’t believe the arrogance of that sentence.
These people are a joke. Of course that's what it is. What an insult anyone with a modicum of intelligence - it's really not that bad of a campaign stunt (at least in theory) so it's kind of ridiculous for them to go on the defensive with something ridiculous like this.
“If the taxpayers are —”
Then the MCain campaign has a feast to use as campaign material. I wonder if a probe will be done.
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