Obama’s overseas adventure: fact-finding trip or PR tour?

Senator Barack Obama’s much-hyped overseas tour is taking him across the Middle East and, later this week, into Europe, where up to one million people are expected to attend a speech in Berlin before he drops in at the Elysee Palace and at 10 Downing Street.

The Obama camp has been persistent in its claim that the tour is much more than a publicity stunt. "This trip is not at all a political trip or a rally of any sort," said Obama aide Robert Gibbs. "It is a series of substantive meetings with our friends and our allies to talk about the challenges we face and the national security demands for the 21st century."

But the McCain campaign spokesperson Jil Hazelbaker was sceptical: "Let's drop the pretence that this is a fact-finding trip and call it what it is: the first-of-its-kind campaign rally overseas."

Anne Applebaum, writing in the Washington Post, believes the excitement generated by Obama’s tour bodes well for the future of American politics. "It matters how America is perceived abroad, and not just because it's nice to be popular," she says. "When America and American values are admired in other countries, American politicians have more influence on foreign affairs."

Admiration from abroad is something the US sorely needs, says Karen Tumulty in Time magazine. In a series of recent polls "71 per cent of respondents said they believe the US is less respected in the world than it used to be… a majority said they view this loss of international respect as a major problem." As a result, images of Obama standing "shoulder-to-shoulder among those he would be dealing with as this country's President" will help persuade voters that he’s the one to repair America’s damaged reputation.

Team Obama should use the stopovers in Europe to their advantage, says Bob Kall on the Huffington Post. "The images of those huge masses of people will be very powerful, showing independent voters what they'll be able to look forward to - a president the world will love… If Obama's team is smart… they will stop down in England, France, Germany, giving advance notice where he goes so the crowds can form."

Tread carefully, says the New York Post’s Michael Goodwin. The adoring crowds of Europe may present a tempting photo opportunity, but a recent poll showed that only 37 per cent of Americans thoughts of Obama as "very patriotic". "That's why", says Goodwin, "Obama can't bash American policies or even President Bush while he's abroad. He'd get flowers from the anti-Americans, but reinforce doubts at home."

Ben Smith on Politico goes even further, saying Obama has to present himself to the media back home as the "American abroad" with the emphasis "squarely on 'American'". The trip, says Smith, gives Obama the chance to rebuff "the familiar Republican assault - that he is, in some sense, not 'one of us'," by showing up in Europe and showing that he is not one of them.

FIRST POSTED JULY 22, 2008