“US Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama had lunch with President Karzai today. Karzai and Obama reiterated the need for further cooperation in the war on terror.” - BBC Monitoring Newsfile

 

And here is the money shot… In porn that refers to the moment the screen legend makes that final release. In politics it must refer to that moment the news papers and other agencies report what you hoped they would report.

Obama has a problem. CNN said it the other day when they announced his trip to the Middle East as a way to appear stronger in the one area he lacks that perception, the war on terror. Well here for several million dollars and a few nights sleeping in a foreign land is Obama’s money shot, the BBC reporting that he “reiterated the need for further cooperation in the war on terror”.

Wow, he looks tough on terror now doesn’t he, strong like that big war hawk McCain?

This will be seen by some as a success by some but I can’t see it that way. In politics perception is law. The way the people perceive you to be is what you are in the end.

Nixon was a crook. Not really, he didn’t steal anything, he just got caught doing what politicians do, covering up dirt. Dukakis was a fraud. Not really, he just got caught in something at the wrong time, in his case a tank on camera and the press went wild. Clinton was a great president. A matter of opinion but he didn’t do a bad job when you consider the country pretty much took care of itself giving him time to attend to more personal matters. Al Gore is the savior of the planet. Time will tell...

Obama’s problem as I see it is two fold: youth and inexperience on the world stage. While the age part he can do nothing about, he can try to change the perception of inexperience and that is what this entire trip is about. It is not a "get to know the next leader of the free would tour". It is a "please look at me as if I can be the leader of the free world tour" as I hang out with some of the big boys on the same stage.

I don’t think it will work. I think in another term or two Obama may well be the right man for the job, if he backs away from some of his more liberal positions, the same ones he has temporarily boxed up over the last few weeks as the left wing’s fringe is starting to claim he is moving too far to the right shows evidence, but not today; not at this most critical time in World History.

The world needs a leader that has been around the block a few times. Fortunately for us, the world doesn’t get to pick that leader, we do; Americans do that job. We pick the leader of the free world at least. And for the foreseeable future it will remain our duty by default to do that. No other country on the planet can be the stabilizing force for peace that we can be.

But that will waiver far worse than it does even today, under George Bush, who’s perceived in about the most unflattering way possible by a large part of the worlds lesser leaders. The uniting factor for this world will be victory in the war on terror. Not the destruction of all Muslims, just victory over the radical part of their religion. Just as we had to temper down the radical side of Christianity, Islam needs sequestering with in its own ranks.

Obama is not the man to make that happen. He is too weak on the war on terror. And no international trip or amount of press is going to change that fact for most people.

But what would I know; I’m just an Average American.