Why Barack Obama's 'Look, I'm Presidential' tour is high risk business

Last Modified: 18 Jul 2008
By: Felicity Spector

It won't win him the election but Barack Obama hopes his tour of Europe and the Middle East will answer the stature gap.

It's Barack Obama's 'Look, I'm Presidential' tour, according to New York magazine: the rock star candidate's chance to be greeted by huge, and rapturous crowds abroad, a chance to spread some of that Obama magic around the world.

All three major US news anchors - Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric - will be travelling with him, which guarantees huge coverage, and a combined audience of more than 20 million.

Of course, no-one is going to get into the White House because of their views on foreign policy. Indeed, a rapturous reception on the streets of Berlin or Paris could well prove a double edged sword.

Add to this the acres of advance news coverage - the cover of this week's Newsweek (and, natch, that New Yorker one...), a slot on Larry King, and an op-ed in the New York Times - and, clearly, the media haven't lost their all consuming fascination with the Democratic challenger.

John McCain might as well be talking to himself.

But along with the high profile come high risks.

This trip is all about proving Obama can attract international respect and understanding: showing Americans he knows what he's doing.

It's about showing that he is capable of leading a superpower. Especially as the polls show people are still fairly divided over his experience, or rather the perceived lack of it.

In this week's Washington Post/ABC survey, almost half of voters said it would hamper his ability to serve as President. And John McCain was judged to have more knowledge of the rest of the world by a margin of two to one.

As Democratic pollster Doug Schoen puts it: "He has to close the stature gap."

Of course, no-one is going to get into the White House because of their views on foreign policy. Indeed, a rapturous reception on the streets of Berlin or Paris could well prove a double edged sword.

Those links to France didn't do John Kerry much good. And the potential pitfalls in the Middle East are legion - it's all too easy to say the wrong thing.

Witness Obama's comments on an "undivided Jerusalem", which he hastily amended the next day.

He might well enjoy the benefits of being in the spotlight but maybe not the perils: any mis-step, any gaffe, will be glaringly obvious, not to mention instant ammunition for John McCain.

But this is a highly important trip for Obama, his second visit to Iraq, his first to Afghanistan.

It's an opportunity to show himself as the 'anti-Bush', to improve America's tarnished image abroad. To persuade foreign leaders, especially in Baghdad and Kabul, that his military plans make sense.

And to educate himself about the true state of the world: what matters there, what people in Europe, in the Middle East are really thinking.

In the end, in these dangerous times, it's all about trust: the trust of the American people in Obama's ability to lead - and the trust of the rest of the world, that he can really make a difference.

It's a sizeable risk, for his first major foray abroad - but a risk that's surely worth taking.