Times of London on Obama's Europe Void

The Times of London has picked up on the issue that Senator Obama has not convened a policy-related hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Europe and added to this something I reported yesterday -- which was that Europe does not figure into Obama's travel profile.

Many people are wondering why any of this travel experience matters -- particularly a bunch of my Obama-supporting friends.

This debate started with the Boston Globe's endorsement of Obama in which it proffered a strange line:

America needs a president with an intuitive sense of the wider world, with all its perils and opportunities. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has this understanding at his core.

My friend and New America Foundation board member Fareed Zakaria furthered this debate in a direction I don't agree with -- by suggesting that identity trumps experience and expertise.

We've had a president who rules from the gut -- and it was a huge mistake for the nation to go with someone who lacked the experience and facility with global affairs that George W. Bush came to office with.

I want to be clear to friends on all sides of this political campaign that I know Barack Obama has international experience, but it is not wrong to note that there are deficits in the profiles of the people we are considering to live in the White House.

If I'm being asked to support Obama because of innate instinct, I refuse. I would say the same about Hillary Clinton if asked. What we need to know about all of these potential candidates is not only how they operate and work but what the basis of their experience is. Then, for me, I want to see some evidence that the candidate is thinking creatively about how to leapfrog out of today's national security and foreign policy morass into some more stable order that propels American and global interests back in a positive direction.

At the beginning of the John Bolton battle in which I played a substantial part, Barack Obama and Russ Feingold were two early holdouts in our uniting the Democratic caucus on the Foreign Relations Committee against him. After watching a video tape of John Bolton "losing it" on the subject of the UN, when Bolton said that one could take some ten floors out of the UN and no one would notice (in an angry, frustrated voice), Obama changed course and opposed Bolton. This impressed me -- but there was nothing innate in Obama's thinking.

Hillary Clinton, in contrast, might have leaned more toward a minority constituency in New York that was supportive of Bolton, and allowed the "identity" of the situation trump sensible policy. Clinton's people listened to many -- and just knew that when it came to shouldering responsibilities for the American people in the world's most important international institution, Bolton was the wrong person for the job.

I hate this debate about experience vs. identity in making this choice. Both candidates have strengths and weaknesses.

But with me, experience -- or demonstrating bold capacity to requisition that experience -- is the primary driver of my political support. Obama supporters, I hope, will drop this cult-ish promulgation of identity politics and will get back on the experience track.

Then, we can have a sensible discussion about the differences between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden -- and the rest.

It still bothers me that Mike Huckabee has been to Europe and Obama hasn't.

-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note

P.S. I want to make one note about Senator Obama and European travel. According to the Times of London story, Barack Obama stopped in London for a quick stopover on the way back from Moscow. I was not given this information by Senator Obama's office, so I am not adding it as of yet. The official material from the Obama office did not include this trip and thus may need to be amended at some point. Steve Clemons

Comments

[clsez]

GWBs problem was not a lack of experience, heck, he could have asked his far more experienced father for help or gained it from him by osmosis as you Hillary supporters claim she gained her experience. Bush's problem is BAD JUDGEMENT which incidentally is a trait your Hillary shares for having voting for the war, even with her former husband PREZ Bill at home to advise her! Looks like Barack without all that pedigree around him, got it right from the outset to the shame of the Clintons and the Bushes.
Please, someone tell me this cannot be seen for what it is.

[larry278]

Your point is invalid. Foreign policy must be flexible to allow a quick study, like Sen Obamsa, to learn from the mistakes of others & his own mistakes & revise it to meet ever changing conditions. John Foster Dulles was touted to have been uniquely qualified to be Ike's Secretary of State because he had studied US foreign policy for years. Dulles gave us the concept of brinksmanship as a successful tool for managing foreign policy. Brinksmanship proved to be like playing chicken by two cars speeding at each other & branding the driver who turned to avoid the crash chicken. That caused the Brits to say-dull, duller, Dulles & made Dulles a failure & laughing stock. Saner people ended Dulles's playing the game of brinksmanship before he could start WWW III. A successful POTUS must be a quick study & learn quickly. Compare it to on the job training & be damned. W, Cheney & Rum Dumb didn't learn anything so they lost the peace in Iraq & encouraged the persistant cival war which has destroyed Iraq & the US Army to boot.

[nightslider]

Yep the man has worldly experience, why he can count on his right hand how many committees he served on that are related to foreign policy issues, lete see if we can name one, uuuuummmm uuuummm uuuummmm Ok memory must be faulty, nope he lacks the single most important element in his (little)portfolio! experience.

Didn't we elect one of those already??? as you can tell the results were disastrous for our current state o0f affairs.

Yes Yes I* know the Europeans are are decadent and they are a pain in the ass at times, BUT THEY ARE MAJOR ALLIES AND NEED TO BE ACCORDED THE DEFERENCE TO THAT END.
Oblapa has none of the attributes needed to establish a working relationship immmiediatly, Who Does he know? Christ Almighty who even knows him??? Or wants too? Don,t see to many foreigner,s jumping to his aide let alone anyone who has had to deal with them.

He's at this time in his career an empty suit looking for substance to fill him out, and only experience can do that.NOT ON THE JOB TRAINING, as with the past occupant and even then he still hasn't gotten it right.

SEE Iraq,China and the airplane they grounded ,North Korea,Iran,Dubai,Syria.

Nope can't afford any more on the job training applicants

[lynnn]

The word of the day is intuition, can you say that kids? I find it interesting that the New Republic has a very similar article as well. Oh well like I said the word of the day is intuition!

[meese]

I find it amusing that those that endorse Clinton attack Obama for supposedly "going with his gut" when his gut and his sharp mind turned out to have more insight than the other front runners when it came to Iraq.

Did they forget to check their guts before voting for the war? Or was there some other difficulty?

[RealBlackGirl]

How much more attention does Europe need? How refreshing to have a candidate that does not have a Eurocentric world view.

[DasBoot]

I am SOOO sick and tired of the accusation that Obama supporters are "cultish". Ask the people in "Hillaryland" about cultish behavior for a change. Simply because we have made the decision that Obama is a better candidate than Hillary, that must mean we are brainwashed. A tiny bit arrogant, don't you think?

I was born in Germany. Does it bother me that Obama has never been there? No. Why should it? So is travel schedule now the best measure of a candidate? Are you kidding?

Please never, ever, ever equate Obama's travel experiences and his intuition with George W. Bush if you want to maintain a tiny bit of credibility.

[Swampfish]

The Times of London has picked up on the issue that Senator Obama has not convened a policy-related hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Europe and




*******Did Clemons disclose that the paper to which he pays such homage to is owned by Murdoch ????
Ask yourselves how many fund raisers did Murdoch hold for HClinton ?It's desperation folks, look for the Clintons to bring out Tony Blair next.

[PKSSK]

Shame on you Steve, you left out a key piece of information in your article. Who owns the London Times????? Who suppots Hillary????? HMMMM could it be NEWSCORP????? Rubert Murdoch, the same Rupert Murdoch that owns FOX NEWS???

Wake up people, this article is a farce that has been prepared by Murdoch who supports the current administrations neocon foreign policies that got us into the war!!!!

Vote for Hillary if you want to continue on this path of US and world destruction. Your choice.

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

If Obama had supported the Iraq war at the beginning, I wouldn't want him to be President. I would choose another candidate.

What does it take for supporters of Hillary or Edwards or Biden or Dodd to change their mind? Do you really want another "I was for the war before I was against it" nominee?

http://action.credomobile.com/comics/2007/12/the_trouble_with_hillary.html

[Newfycrat]

This may sound incredibly superficial in a Presidential race, but there is no excuse for dissing British food (*especially* if he has never been there or has only been there once):
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/obamas-no-fan-of-british-food/

Before everyone writes this off, think of what would happen in the American press if a British PM went to the South, for example, and said all the food sucks. People would be peeved and defensive.
The British are to their curry like Californians are to tacos. Many pubs have a curry night, and while it is true that English curry is not authentic, I love English curry.
The British are also incredibly proud of their current food scene, one reason why Gordon Ramsay is such a hero. Their food scene is now on the world stage and being duplicated in many places. They are out competing France. London is now a top (some say thee top) world city. Part of that food scene is modernization of the national dishes, they are full of pride of their food. (and most people who think haggis is gross have never eaten it in Scotland. If they had, and weren't told what it was before they ate it, most would love the dish).
To say all British food is bad is as ignorant (and offensive) as saying all British have bad teeth. (at least they all have dental insurance).
It is not wise to say something like this about the populace of one of our biggest allies. The naivety on display is mind boggling. It also shows a lack of class and a lack of worldliness IMO.

[Tellmethetruth]

Thanks for this excellent article.

It is written in the Book of Wisdom: "Only a fool can be wise without knowledge."

Hopefully the voters will not be fools and vote "instincts" but make a fact-based assessment of candidates. We had one villiage idiot with GW Bush, we don't need another with Obama.

www.joebiden.com

[cloudy]

I can think of few angles on this election less enlightening than a focus (carried to an absurd extreme in a TPM Cafe columnists charting of all the candidate's travelling) on whether or how many times Obama has been to Europe.

Now, Obama has supposedly not used his position as chair of a subcommittee on European affairs to hold hearings. I have seen
this point made, but not any reportage of any DEMANDS or REQUESTS from the Subcommittee members FOR meetings, or what issues they were seeking meetings about.

It is quite possible that as a freshperson in the Senate, Obama is taking his cue from the other senators on the committee as to whether THEY have something they would like the SubCommittee to hold hearings about. The whole issue has been thrown at Obama as part of his 'inexperience' meme, without really delving into these journalistically essential side questions.

As for the notion that Zakaria and, for that matter, Obama himself, are merely focusing on 'identity' (deployed as an epithet) regarding what Obama or other candidates bring to the foreign policy table, I think that UNDERSTATES the importance of the issue vastly, in the same vein as HRC assumed a vastly exaggerated meaning to Obama's comments about his background as if, exclusive of his experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee etc. this was his ONLY foreign policy credential.

A 'Goldilocks' happy medium on this issue would make more sense

[ChristopherLib]

I'll support Obama if he's the nominee, I think we all need to. However in ranking the Democratic nominees only Gravel comes below Obama on my list. I think it's insulting that Obama is trying to pass a lack of experience as an asset. He says Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest had experience, so in a sense experience is a bad thing. That just has stuck in my craw and it won't go away. If he tries to use that arguement in the general he'll slammed for it, and rightly so.

Experience is not a bad thing Senator Obama. Obviously it's not the only factor, but at a time when this country is in need of repair, both on domestic issues and issues of foreign affairs, people should concider proven ability to get things done, proven leadership, as one of the top things we look when choosing our party's nominee.

[PKSSK]

Please tell Hillary enough is enough already. Even if she succeeds in her destruction of Obama by using sheep like you, it will only serve in her self destruction as well.

She has proven that her leadership will be the same as we have now. Do anything and everything to divide and conquer at any cost. We have seen this done to her husband, Al Gore and John Kerry by the "right wing conspiracy", which she aptly named and has now joined!!!!