Kabul Receives Obama As If He Were Bush

It was not Berlin, but rather the capital of Afghanistan as the chosen location for the Illinois Senator and Democratic presidential candidate to begin his first foreign tour.

The Democratic candidate to the White House, Barack Obama, arrived this Saturday in Afghanistan, according to an informant from his campaign. “I received a telephone call, which informed me that Senator Obama had landed at the airport in Kabul,” said Robert Gibbs, one of his principle collaborators.

While the analysts were waiting outside Berlin, the chosen place for his international presence, as the Semanal Digital informed, Obama preferred to leave the United States discretely to fly first to Kuwait, where he made a stopover to meet with the military chiefs and salute the troops stationed there. Later he flew to Kabul.

Obama’s trip to Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe is his first adventure on the international scene. At the same time it becomes a test for the presidential candidate that promises a new era in diplomacy and the end of military intervention in Iraq.

“What is at play for Obama is very important,” said Lee Hamilton in Washington, President of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies. Although Obama has the advantage in the polls, “foreign policy is a chapter where the voters have doubts” about him, recognized Hamilton. The campaign advisors announced stopovers in Jordan, Israel, Germany, France, and Great Britain, but they did not want to clarify if Afghanistan and Iraq would form part of this first tour. With heavy secrecy surrounding his departure to Kabul, everything indicates that later he will go to Baghdad.

The tour includes meetings with leaders, speeches, and visits to emblematic scenes. “He shall have the opportunity to sit down together with international leaders with whom he might have to work as President of the United States, and discuss some of the issues, ”said David Axelrod, Strategy Director for his campaign.

Behind McCain on Foreign Policy

Obama has condemned President George W. Bush’s foreign policy throughout his campaign, but Hamilton affirmed that he should be cautious. “To criticize foreign policy in Washington is one thing, but to do it in Berlin is another,” he warned. “All eyes will be on him and we know it,” said Axelrod.

Less than four months before the election, Obama’s tour comes at a moment in which he surpasses his rival, Republican John McCain, in many surveys, but is in second place--at best tied--with him on many questions about foreign policy. In a recent poll from Washington Post/ABC, 72% of those questioned said that McCain had sufficient knowledge about international issues to be an effective president in comparison with 54% for Obama.

The two are equal when voters are asked who they have more confidence in to manage the situation between Israel and the Palestinians or the war in Iraq. Say or do whatever you want, Obama will be the object of special attention from the Republicans who want to emphasize doubts about his ability to lead foreign policy and defense.

“This trip is about politics. It is a way in which Obama might compete on foreign policy.” said Jill Hazelbaker, Communications Director for McCain. McCain has traveled outside the country two times this summer, one time to Canada and the other to Colombia and Mexico. In these cases his principle objective was to manifest support for free trade expansion.