So, Barack Obama travels to the middle east and europe next week on a trip designed to burnish his statesman credentials. Among the events planned: a major open-air speech in Berlin, possibly at the Brandenburg Gate. The good folks at The Corner see this as an own goal. To wit, Peter Kirsanow:
Here in flyover country the reaction to Obama’s trip (except for the understandable stops in Iraq) is just as likely to be ” What country does he want to be president of?”
It’s true some Americans like to be liked. But lots of Americans also are skeptical of candidates who look like they’re trying to pass John Kerry’s “global test.”
And Yuval Levin:
That he will get good coverage is of course a given with Obama, and that many Europeans (and surely many Americans) will like it seems right to me too.
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