Crowd puller Obama may make quick UK stop along busy road to White House

[BlueJessamine]

Source: Guardian

Obamamania" could be about to cross the Atlantic. Barack Obama is planning his first overseas trip since he launched his US presidential bid in February last year - and Britain is pencilled in as part of a possible European tour next month.

A source with knowledge of the plans said the Obama campaign has opened discussions with the British government, but stressed that a final decision has yet to be made.

The Democratic nominee for the Oval Office would be a huge draw in Britain.

In the US, he has proved to be an extraordinary crowd puller and polls suggest that he would generate excitement in the UK too, with the public almost certain to line the streets of London to see the man who could be the next resident of the White House.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/16/barackobama.uselections2008

[gateley]

1. And just a wee bit different reception than Bush received, I'd bet. nt

[BearSquirrel2]

3. Yes but the coverage will say something like ...

Yes, but the coverage will say something like "Obama protests America on foreign soil" or something to the like.

[iamjoy]

6. He Goes To UK But Not Iraq

that's the heat he'd catch. It would up the pressure for that visit to our troops. John McCain would insist it was fine in Baghdad there and that Obama could be driven in an unarmored vehicle and not wear body armor...

[sofa king]

7. I hope he continues to stay away from Iraq.

If there is any silver lining at all to the Iraq war, it's that the war has managed to concentrate sociopaths, murderers, religious fanatics, and hyperconservatives there.

No, I'm not talking about the "terraists." I'm talking about the hard core American right-wing authoritarians, the ones crazy enough to be out of touch with reality while remaining sane enough to do the evil bidding of the Bush Administration. Visiting Iraq is doubly dangerous for Obama, because the Americans there are nearly as much of a risk to him as the people fighting us.

[lebkuchen]

9. No one in the Bush administration has come to a US army base in Europe

to talk to the families of deployed troops. Why? Because they are too afraid of getting raked over the coals by families suffering from deployment after deployment, not to mention cuts in medical, childcare, education, and housing. Army families want to know where all that help Bush promised went to.

As would any new Army Company Commander worth his/her salt taking over a Company that has been highly mismanaged, you hold an open forum to discuss what's on the Company's mind. Bush can only talk about himself. Obama must meet with army family members in particular and let THEM talk.

McCain would be too frightened to do the same w/o cherry-picking the crowd for supporters first.

Iraq is the most dangerous place on earth, and nobody knows that better than John McCain. Obama voted against the war, McCain for it. If McCain wants to waste taxpayer dollars rounding up a phalanx of soldiers to protect him while he walks Baghdad markets, well, that's what he does best--showboating on our dollar with our soldiers' lives at stake.

Obama must meet with the families and refrain from the BS bravado exhibited by McCain in Iraq.

[NYC_SKP]

2. It'll be like the Beatles coming here in the 60's

Or David Hasselhoff in the 80's.

I love Obama, I wanna shake his hand.

:D

[gateley]

4. Ha! It'll be exciting!!

I'm so interested to see the response around Europe, although we already know a large chunk of the world is rooting for him.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. His step mother and half-sister live in the UK

He went to a British stag night in the 90s when his step sister got married: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7213584.stm
and her daughter stayed with them over Christmas while they were campainging: http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2008/01/13/barrack-s-british-background-98487-20283224/

How many 10 year old British girls get to meet Bill Clinton, George Bush (oh well ...) and have the next president as their uncle?

[Gman]

8. For his safety

I hope he doesn't do it. The CIA can do much more of what they want to do overseas with the cooperation of other elements than they can here.

[lebkuchen]

10. Eva Schloss, posthumous stepsister of Anne Frank, has endorsed Obama

and she lives in London.

I'd love to see Obama visit Frau Schloss, a holocaust survivor, and pledge to work with her to fight bigotry and prejudice in the world.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ThHQUEtJ4PM&feature=related

I'd also like to see Obama visit Miep Gies, one of four people to help the Frank family while they were in hiding. Mrs. Gies turns 100 in February and lives in the Netherlands. If she were physically up for a visit, it would be great to have a U.S. leader travel to HER, as opposed to Gies traveling to others to spread her campaign against bigotry and hatred, which she had done over and over when she was as old as 87 years (flying to Long Beach's Woodrow Wilson HS per "Freedom Writers").

[pepperbear]

11. WOW! He can help Iowa with sandbags AND go to Europe. who'd a thunk?