Barack Obama has succeeded in making the November Presidential election an international event. This world tour that "isn't a campaign trip" certainly seems like a campaign trip. The mainstream press is falling all over itself providing wall-to-wall coverage, television time, and chatter. Obama is welcomed with open arms where ever he happens to be. Apparently countries around the world have been craving "change", and they see Obama as the purveyor of change. He has been delivering his typically eloquent speeches and he seems to have captivated his audiences.
He seems to have caused the 'victory' in Iraq and has determined exactly what needs to happen to have the same results in Afghanistan.
He has been whatever his particular audience at the time has wanted him to be. He seemed to be hawkish while in Israel and conciliatory in Germany. He has apologized, in so many words, for the mean old America and promised a new, open and understanding America that will be easier with which to negotiate, that can be expected to try much harder to be the friend that Europe wishes it to be.
A first-term U.S. Senator, with virtually no foreign policy experience and only limited credentials based upon his actual experience, has met with, and likely made certain commitments or inferences of commitments to, heads of state and high ranking dignitaries across the globe. While I understand that this kind of thing has no doubt occurred in the past, it is unseemly at best and dangerous at worst.
There is a reason for the excitement about the Obama candidacy overseas. The people there believe they will fare much better at the bargaining table with this American and his administration than they may have with the current administration.
Their glee is palpable. They only wish this was already November because they'd be that much closer to the swearing in ceremony.
We would be wise to step back and take a deep breath before this deal goes down.
