Barack Obama's excellent adventure

[mia]

Source: Asia Times

HONG KONG - As he began his tour of overseas war zones present and past, the Iraq issue bounced Senator Barack Obama's way. As he demonstrated with US troops in Kuwait on Saturday, presidential hopeful Obama knows basketball, and in hoops, as in politics, it's not the bounces but putting the ball in the basket that matters....

To make that work, Obama needs to link the fall in the US dollar, chronically weak under Bush, with the economic troubles at home. He needs to talk about how much higher gas prices seem because the dollar has fallen as petroleum prices have risen. He needs to find a European leader to agree with him that overseas companies bringing overvalued euros to the United States to buy landmark assets, whether it's the Chrysler Building or Budweiser beer brewer Anheuser-Busch, is unproductive speculation rather than job-creating real investment that benefits all of the economies involved.

Obama and a European leader could talk about how developed economies on both sides of the Atlantic can work together to break the oil addiction and address global warming, rather than battling on the issue as has often been the case under Bush. He can also reaffirm that he will work with the European Union toward the shared goal of a non-nuclear Iran.

Bush's foolish adventure in Iraq alienated Europe and torpedoed the dollar as badly as America's reputation. Obama's trip to the scenes of the crimes can help show he's the right guy to repair the damage, not another dangerous naif like Bush was eight years ago. Above all, on this trip and beyond, Obama needs to demonstrate he's that rare commodity in politics and basketball, a straight shooter. America and the world can't afford four more years of misses.



Read more: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JG22Ak01.html

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Whether we agree with them or not it's interesting to see how other countries view our candidate.

[Rowdyboy]

1. I'll give it a K&R just for the headline....

[ooglymoogly]

3. Me Two

[Agent William]

5. Thanks, I couldn't agree more!

[Posteritatis]

8. Fourthed! (nt)

[Bicoastal]

2. Excellent! (**Guitar Riff**)

[mia]

7. Is that a riff for "the Republican two-step" ?

An example of the Republican two-step on Iraq came from House minority leader John Boehner last weekend claiming that it's al-Qaeda's choice to fight the US in Iraq. A couple of years ago, Boehner would have been claiming the US was in Iraq because of al-Qaeda, but now he offers the opposite argument without breaking stride. It's also an example of why the Iraq issue alone won't win the election for Obama.


Let's hear another riff for "It's the economy....".

[jaysunb]

4. A good nugget here:

It's ironic that the candidate with a foreign father and stepfather who spent part of his youth living overseas has to prove his foreign affairs chops, but that's US politics.

:thumbsup:

[blossomstar]

6. what a profound statement

"America and the world can't afford four more years of misses". Hope the Obama camp picks that one up, it says it all...

[MadrasT]

9. K&R

Another kick for the morning crew... let's hope that we are all on the beginning of an excellent adventure.

:kick: GOBAMA!

[mia]

10. Obama to speak in Berlin Thursday at 7:00 PM - 1:00 PM (EST)

http://blogs.dw-world.de/acrossthepond/michael/1.6837.html


How Obama Will Spent His One Day In Berlin

Now that the decision where Barack Obama will speak in Berlin has finally been made, more and more details about his visit have been made public. According to German media reports, the Democratic presidential candidate will stay in Berlin for one day before continuing his whirlwind tour through Europe.

Here's how Obama, according to German press reports, will spend his time in the German capital: He will arrive on Thursday morning at Tegel airport in his new Obama One plane, featuring his campaign logo and slogan. Obama then will meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Chancellory around noon. They will have a photo taken, but not give a joint press conference, since Obama is a candidate and not an official state guest. At 2 pm Obama will meet with Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. According to press reports, he might spend the rest of the afternoon taking what has been described as a private walk through Berlin, visiting places of significance to German-American relations such as Tempelhof Airport, Checkpoint Charlie, the historic Bernauer Straße or the Holocaust Memorial.

Obama's much debated speech at the Victory Column is scheduled for 7 pm and will last up to one hour. Obama will stay at the Berlin Intercontinental Hotel and will head to Paris at 9 pm Friday morning. Until now, no details how Obama will spend the rest of the evening after his speech have been published.

Since Obama's only public speech in Europe at Berlin's Victory Column is a public, free event without much prior notice, Berlin officials are not quite sure how many people to expect. Estimates range from 10,000 to one million. (If the weather is nice, my guess is the number would be closer to one million than to 10,000.) Officials are in a hurry to prepare the area around Großer Stern, which will be open to the public as of 4 pm. Obama was given the second highest security status by German officials, the highest being granted only to the heads of state of the United States, Israel, and Russia....

[polichick]

11. Great title!

[uponit7771]

12. Very true words!! "Bush's foolish adventure in Iraq alienated Europe and torpedoed the dollar"

The connection should be made quickly and often

[mia]

15. Bush is viewed as a "dangerous naif"- not good for McCain either.

"Obama's trip to the scenes of the crimes can help show he's the right guy to repair the damage, not another dangerous naif like Bush was eight years ago."

Edit: spelling

[Alter Ego]

13. Or "Barack, Chuck, and Jack's Excellent Adventure".

[Undercurrent]

14. Wyld Stallyns couldn't keep me from

recommending this thread!

Great title. :toast: