Barack Obama may depart this summer from his road-warrior tour of election-battleground states to take a trip around the world, one intended to shore up his credentials on foreign policy. ~McClatchy

Robert Stacy McCain is right when he sees terrible political danger for Obama in this proposal.  Going to Iraq is one thing, and could be cast as an imitation of Eisenhower, but spending much time elsewhere would be a mistake.  It would be a daily occasion for McCain to say, “While Barack Obama is travelling the world to make up for his lack of foreign policy experience, I am here talking to the American people about their problems, because I am the American President Americans have been waiting for, blah blah blah.”  It would seem to confirm every attempt to portray Obama, whether it has been made negatively or positively, as post-American (cue that picture of him with Zakaria’s book), multicultural or “globalised.”  It would convey the worst symbolism during the general election.  It will remind voters of how many places he has not been before, and it will hardly help to have numerous stories about the chair of the Subcommittee for European Affairs to begin with the line, “On his first trip to Germany, Barack Obama…”, while at the same time giving off the air of over-confidence (“he must think he has already won”) and allowing himself to be cast as a globe-trotting pol indifferent to domestic concerns a la George H.W. Bush.  It will amplify whatever damage his remarks about small-town America had and revive that old controversy.  Republican activists will have a field day: “While John McCain is touring this country and speaking to his fellow Americans about what matters most to them, Barack Obama continues to wander the globe to talk to foreign audiences, who protest against America as eagerly as they cheer for Sen. Obama,” and so on and so forth.  Besides, the election is not so lopsided that either major candidate can afford even a couple of weeks away from campaigning.  The impracticality of the tour in itself could be used as a way to attack Obama’s judgement.   

The McClatchy story continues:

Obama advisers are eager to find a way to harness his popularity overseas to boost his appeal to undecided voters back home, and to show that the 46-year-old freshman senator from Illinois can compete with McCain on foreign policy.

If they are eager to do this, he needs to fire them or get them working on something else.  This is an unreservedly terrible idea.  His popularity overseas is almost certainly a net liability here, at least for the time being.  Obama boosters may not like to hear that, they may find it distressing and unfortunate, but that is the political reality.  If John Kerry suffered electorally because he was “vaguely French” and had French relatives, Obama could very well face a wipeout in November if he goes on a world tour, even if it is not a very long one.