Opinion: Obama with the troops- Great PR, but necessary

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Obama may well be the best PR America has had since JFK in terms of his public image. He’s liked, and politically respected for going from a relatively unknown Senator to the big show in the US political arena.

The New York Times:

Mr. Obama flew to eastern Afghanistan, near Pakistan, to get a firsthand look at the region where American troops are feeling the brunt of increased attacks from militants infiltrating the border. In selecting Afghanistan as an early stop in his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic nominee, he was seeking to highlight what he says is the central front in the fight against terrorism. He made no public statements on his first day here.

The visit was part of a weeklong tour that will take him to Iraq, Israel and Western Europe on a trip intended to build impressions, and counter criticism, about his ability to serve on the world stage in a time of war. It carries political risk, particularly if Mr. Obama makes a mistake — the three broadcast network news anchors will be along for the latter parts of the trip — or is seen as the preferred candidate of Europe and other parts of the world. But his advisers believe it offers an opportunity for him to be seen as a leader who can improve America’s image.

Foreign governments won’t mind Obama doing a global showing of the flag. His credibility for the rest of the world is as a plausible change of direction for the US, and many observers think that’s long overdue.

The Bush administration, suffering from second term jet lag, among its other problems, can’t really push future issues with much authority. Obama’s message, so far, if a bit rhetorical for actual policy, is ringing some bells with countries who’d like to mend fences with the US.

The US, for its part, is still carrying the legacy of unilateralism, which backed quite a few countries into a corner where they were unable to support US policies for domestic reasons. That was a treading on toes exercise of no minor dimensions.

Even if the US was in no mood after 911 to be too cutesy about policies, opportunities were missed to get the rest of the world onside, or at least not offside. A difficult situation was made more difficult.

Other issues haven’t helped. The situation with China, in which Chinese military rebuilding has been portrayed as a security threat, while trade with China booms, is a case in point. As a policy at odds with itself, and a baffling case of doublethink, America’s regional allies have been wincing for a while now. Even if the practical diplomacy and trade talks have been more realistic, the rhetoric would have been better to have never happened.

Obama, if he intends to develop the foreign policy angle, has a lot of easy targets to hit. Either he, or someone, has to hit them, because the net effect has been to undermine the relationships with some countries. The level of ambiguity about foreign policy has made US interests more difficult to defend, because those interests have been far too easy to spin into hostile propaganda, as a result of the unilateralism.

Russia, in the late Putin presidency, had no difficulty using US foreign policies as target practice. The missile shield, against non-existent Iranian threats, was a classic of lousy conceptualization.

Obama doesn’t have a hard act to follow, despite Secretary Rice’s hard work in so many areas to undo the tangles.

But he does have to get it right. The US is taking massive hits from its economy, and credibility has to be restored. Trade, and the other machinery of foreign relations, are more important to the US than ever before.

Not to sell McCain, the Lone Conservative Vertebrate, short, I’d credit Obama with the ability to sell sand to a Saudi camel. He’s the best possible market image for the US at the moment.

Let’s hope this trip works, and works well.