Obama defends overseas trip, says dip in polls is possible ;-)

[Kire]

Source: Associated Press

Obama defends overseas trip
By DANICA KIRKA – 33 minutes ago

LONDON (AP) — Presidential contender Barack Obama defended his decision to travel to Europe and the Middle East on Saturday, saying that problems encountered by Americans at home are often best dealt with by working with allies overseas.

Obama, who spoke to reporters after wrapping up talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said he wasn't sure if there would be any immediate political impact from the trip — and that he wouldn't be surprised if there was a dip in some of the polls in the week since he left home. People in the U.S., he said, are worried about gas prices and home foreclosures.

"The reason that I thought this trip was important is that I am convinced that many issues that we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad," he said. "And unless we get a handle on Iraq and Afghanistan, not only are we going to be less safe, but it's also going to be a huge drain on resources."

Obama said he and Brown discussed a wide range of issues, such as climate change, terrorism and financial markets.

"The prime minister's emphasis — like mine — is on how we can strengthen the trans-Atlantic relationship to solve problems that can't be solved by any single country individually," he said.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5isOFwdbq0tsqatW6vJpkDRTI1gMgD925HK8O0

---

He's so humble.


UPDATE:

Apparently, just reading it in print is not as effective as hearing him say it himself. When I heard him say that he wouldn't be surprised about a dip in the polls, he was not worried. He was just deflecting criticism just in case anybody thinks he was getting a big head from all the media reports comparing him to Reagan and Kennedy.

Personally, I think this comment put him up there with George Wasington and Abraham Lincoln, from an era where humility was a cherished commodity.

[my3boyz]

1. No, he is arrogant if you listen to MSM

:eyes:

[opihimoimoi]

3. Obama is Arrogant??? what is Bush? Cheney? McStupid? Bill OReally?

The GOP?

[Kire]

9. apparently, you don't listen to MSM

or at least the MSM that my3boyz is talking about

[my3boyz]

26. Didn't you see the sarcasm that I put in my post? I was mocking the lies that the MSM is spreading.

[Kire]

31. sarcasm is easy to miss

especially on message boards

[opihimoimoi]

35. N/P....I was just pointing out the real arrogance is with the GOP and minions..

:toast:

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. I believe "uppity" would be a better way to describe the MSM's characterization

[caledesi]

22. I agree! How dare a black man have confidence! NT

[tledford]

34. Bingo. eom

[Donkeykick]

2. This is something that I was...

debating with someone else in another thread - about this being a bad decision for Barrack to travel overseas to prove he can handle foreign policy. I knew this would backfire on him. With all of the draconian circumstances the public is under right now from the George Bush administration, the public wants to hear it's the economy stupid. :eyes:

Obama, who spoke to reporters after wrapping up talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said he wasn't sure if there would be any immediate political impact from the trip — and that he wouldn't be surprised if there was a dip in some of the polls in the week since he left home. People in the U.S., he said, are worried about gas prices and home foreclosures.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. I don't think it is going to backfire at all.

In fact I think that people were thrilled to see the man who may very well be our next president being met with warmth and enthusiasm around the world. Obama is deflecting the criticism from the Bullshit Media System by downplaying the success of his trip while linking it directly to the domestic problems we face. Obama is a pretty smart politician and knows how to maneuver through the minefields.

[Kire]

6. precisely

If you listen to the way he said it (which was on the hourly news report on NPR just a few minutes before I posted the OP) you can hear in his voice that he wasn't too worried.

You can download the podcast thru itunes here:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=121493675

I'm not sure if it will be posted for a few hours, but he was as humble as a founding father when he said it.

[AndyTiedye]

24. Obama Will Get Slimed No Matter What He Does or Doesn't Do

That is what the Mighty Slime Machine does.

[Kire]

29. in one way or other

we all will, again and again.

[Doremus]

25. He's up 5 on the latest Rasmussen. If that's a backfire, he should do it more often. n/t

[Donkeykick]

27. My point is,

is that most people do not like the present administration's foreign policy to start with. John McSame's is even worse! (this war may last 100 years?!):crazy:

It wouldn't bother me a bit to have Barack just stay here and pound McSame to a pulp on domestic issues. :shrug:

[Roy]

50. He will... and make McCain look foolish at the same time n/t

[Roy]

49. Contrary to popular opinion........

The "public" can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time.

[rsmith6621]

4. The Only Dip Obama Has to Deal With.....

.....Is John McSame

[awoke_in_2003]

21. sorry

no more DUzy awards until sept 5 :)

[ohio2007]

7. "polls" indicate a redefining of what the voters actually want to hear from him.

Anybody have the "poll questions" asked that indicate a drop in voter interest in Barak's messages?


snip
People in the U.S., he said, are worried about gas prices and home foreclosures.

snip

"You're always more popular before you're actually in charge," Obama said. "Once you're responsible, then you're going to make some people unhappy."



I'm waiting for him to use this famous fighting Illini's quote;

- You cannot govern by "opinion polls"
A. Lincoln. 1863

[global1]

11. I Thought That Quote Was Attributed To G.W.*........nt

[Kire]

19. which quote?

the one about being popular until you're in charge, or the one attributed to Lincoln about opinion polls?

[global1]

51. Abe's Quote.....nt

[liberal N proud]

8. M$M just trying to rescue McCain

McCain basically challenged Obama to make the trip. If he didn't they would use the lack of foreign policy skill through to November. They would have hammered him with it.

He went, and defused their little plan to bring him down so now they have to make him weak on domestic issues. That will not be so easy to defuse by a simple trip showing his ability. He will have to show some cards to beat this claim down.

Not to worry, McCain screws up so often that I don't think event the propaganda machine in this nation will be able to save his sorry ass.

One debate, that is all it will take...:nuke:

[global1]

12. Now That The Foreign Policy Skill Issue Has Been Put To Rest.....

there is plenty of time between now and November for Barack to tackle the domestic issues and further embarrass McCain.

[caledesi]

23. I agree! NT

[Deny and Shred]

20. Somehow I doubt McCain on the same trip would go over as well.

He should try it, though. Would be fun to see the reaction when he tells Europe that he wants to be in Iraq for 100 years.

[On the Road]

10. Whatever Idiotic Claims the Media Might Make

those wonderful images from Iraq and Germany cannot be erased.

[HopeHoops]

13. Obama has to defend his trip? How about the McShow trips?

So, Obama specifically states he is addressing Berlin NOT as a candidate, but a citizen. He has to defend his trip?

McCain gets an armed escort for his $25 rug purchase, but that is okay. McCain just HAPPENS to be in Columbia when the hostages are rescued, but that is okay. I think McCain should defend his trip to the cheese section of a Wilkes-Barre grocery store - all of that hot air probably spoiled the food.

[Kire]

14. I heard him say it on NPR about 5 minutes before I posted it.

He's really just reaching out to cover his bases and let us know that he's thinking about us, and our problems, at home.

They're both running for office, so they have to defend every angle.

How well they are doing it is for us to decide.

[high density]

15. So the chorus of media that picked up McCain's calls for Obama to go overseas

...Is now questioning the trip that they facilitated. How do these newsrooms and editorial boards sleep at night? Why do these people force such stupid narratives on our country? I mean we're all used to Fox News saying stuff that doesn't make sense, but now the daily dumps of nutjob reporting comes from the AP and NYT.

[fascisthunter]

16. Ah the New Spin....lol

I don't buy it for a second. Only the bigoted reich wing will be saying so....

[Kire]

18. I meant to say, "when I heard him on NPR"

say that he wasn't worried, I could tell.

I suggest everyone try to find it. I know you can download the NPR Hourly Podcast here:

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=5183215

I heard it on the 9 am Eastern broadcast. I was still listening at 10 am, and I didn't hear it. so, if you want to get the full effect, listen to the man say it rather than what someone wrote about what he said.

[underpants]

28. Kick

:kick:

[depakid]

30. Had the campaign put some ads out focusing on McCain's and his surrogates stupid statements

over the past several weeks- or at least made high profile statements, he wouldn't be talking about any sort of dip in polls.

I'm beginning to get the feeling that neither then candidate or the campaign have enough of the "killer instinct" and will be too polite to finish McCain off.

[Kire]

32. why should he?

mccain is killing himself off pretty well without him


there are dips in polls in any candidacy, but Obama's just lower than he was before, he's not going to get lower than McCain's numbers

[depakid]

33. The corporate media will simply run cover for McCain

AS THEY DO WITH EVERY OTHER REPUBLICAN.

The only way to get that information out and change the focus, tone and framing of what passes for debate is for the Dems to make it news themselves.

If the campaign hasn't learned this lesson yet- we may all be in for a profound disappointment come November 5th.

[Kire]

36. what information should dems get out?

that the dems don't like the coverage of their candidate in the mainstream media? what "tone" would you suggest, other than more anger and complaints?

[Kire]

37. Obama campaign manager doesn’t expect trip bounce

Campaign manager David Plouffe says the smooth foreign swing by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will help win votes in the long run but won’t produce an immediate surge in polls.

“We wouldn’t expect any sort of, I guess the term people use is ‘bounce,’” Plouffe said by phone from campaign headquarters in Chicago

More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/12081.html

[Kire]

38. Obama Disputes He's on a 'Premature Victory Lap' - Has Words for McCain in London

Source: WashPo

Barack Obama
Obama Disputes He's on a 'Premature Victory Lap'
By Dan Balz and Karla Adam

LONDON -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wrapped up his weeklong foreign tour Saturday, meeting at length with past, present and possibly future British prime ministers and rebutting charges from Republican John McCain's campaign that the trip amounted to a "premature victory lap" by an overly confident candidate.

Obama argued that McCain had long ago urged him to take a foreign trip and now was complaining because he had done so. "John McCain has visited every one of these countries post primary that I have," Obama told a scrum of reporters on the driveway outside No. 10 Downing Street, where the prime minister lives and works.

"He has given speeches in Canada, in Colombia, Mexico, he made visits," he added. "And so it doesn't strike me that we have done anything different than the McCain campaign has done, which is to recognize that part of the job of the next president, commander in chief is to forge effective relationships with our allies."

The final day of the trip began with a breakfast meeting with former prime minister Tony Blair at the hotel on Portman Square where Obama and his advisers were staying. From there he went to see Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Downing Street and later visited with David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party.



Read more: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/26/obama_disputes_hes_on_a_premat.html?hpid=topnews

---

Hopefully this will be my last LBN post about Obama's trip to London.

Pretty early this morning, I heard him say something about a possible dip in polls because of this trip, and I saw that noone had posted it on LBN:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3410297&mesg_id=3410297


Then I got an email from David Cameron telling me about his visit with Obama on YouTube:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x161868

Don't ask me why I subscribe to the "Webcameron" email updates, other than I'm interested in keeping up on things.

Later, I got a bigger picture that Obama had quite a day in London today:

Obama has "words of comfort for Gordon Brown":


(there is a link to Obama's press conference in front of 10 Downing Street here. I wanted to see the actual claim in the above story that Obama said he didn't "give any advice" to Brown, who seems to be a "big loser" in the press. (Cameron will most likely be the PM if and when Obama becomes president).

And finally, here he talks to the new "International Middle East Peace Envoy" Named Tony Blair.

[sasquatch]

39. Nobody has had this successful of a foeriegn adventure since Alexander the Great

[Kire]

40. well, susan neiman in the new york times disagrees

she wrote an editorial, maybe i"ll go post that, if it hasn't been posted yet

she was a big hillary supporter,though, who knows

[Kire]

41. American Academic Hillary Supporter in Germany (NYT-OpEd) - Obama is too Kantian for the Germans!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x373086

[HomerRamone]

42. scrum?

That's similar to what I've called some reporters ~(_8^(|)

[Kire]

46. it's a rugby term

it means the group of team members who all pile on each other in order to get to the... whatever i is they call that thing made out of pigskin that they toss around

[Ikonoklast]

43. Obama needs to cut Gramps McCain some slack, here.

The doddering old fool just forgot he ever went overseas, or said those things.

He's been busy with cheese, lately.

[bobd0]

45. John McCain - aka: Mayor McCheese

[BadgerKid]

44. McGrumpy missed his meds again. n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

47. Well, heck, that would have been like Florida 2000, though the Republicans,

with their intimidatory goons and tame Supreme Court, pushed it right the way to the Oval Office. Plus the noise-machine of their suborned MSM seems to create "received opinion" in the US; not so much the news outlets of record as virtually the only ones - except nobody takes them seriously any more, what with the economy in meltdown; a very strange congruence with the so-called China syndrome in a nuclear-power station it seems.

[Cheap_Trick]

48. McCain just needs to shut his whiny piehole. n/t