Today on the presidential campaign trail

By The Associated Press Sat Jul 26, 3:35 PM ET

IN THE HEADLINES

Obama rejects criticism of trip, says McCain moving his way on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ... To clap or not to clap: When Obama speaks to minority journalists, that is the question ... Analysis: From Mideast to Europe, foreign leaders gave Obama a welcome fit for a president

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Obama defends tour, says McCain shifting on war

LONDON (AP) — Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama brushed aside Republican criticism of his overseas trip on Saturday and stood outside the famed 10 Downing Street to say that both President Bush and Sen. John McCain were moving his way on the key issues of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hours before flying home, Obama also suggested his poll numbers might dip in the coming days, adding: "We have been out of the country for a week. People are worried about gas prices and home foreclosures."

At the same time, he said the journey to two war zones, the Mideast and Europe was important because "many of the issues that we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad."

Republicans have criticized Obama throughout his trip, and McCain's campaign said recently the Democrat was taking a "premature victory lap" with more than 100 days remaining in the presidential campaign.

But Obama sought to turn that back on his critics. He said McCain had earlier been "telling me I was supposed to take this trip. He suggested it and thought it was a good idea."

"John McCain has visited every one of these countries post-primary that I have," he said. "So it doesn't strike me that we have done anything different than the McCain campaign has done, which is to recognize that part of the job of the next president, commander in chief is to forge effective relationships with our allies."

The trip was designed by the campaign to show Obama on an international stage in a way that aides hoped would reassure voters who have doubts about his ability to become commander in chief or chart a course for American foreign policy. Jews at home were an audience of particular concern, reflected in his two-night stay in Jerusalem.

McCain has long opposed Obama's call for a 16-month timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq. On Friday, though, McCain said, "I think it's a pretty good timetable, as we should — or horizons for withdrawal," echoing a phrase Bush used in recent days. "But they have to be based on conditions on the ground."

At his news conference, Obama jumped on that to say there was now some convergence "around a proposal that we have been making for a year and a half."

He also said McCain supports sending additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, "and the Bush administration acknowledges that as well. I have been talking about that since last year," he said.

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Can minority journalists resist applauding Obama?

CHICAGO (AP) — When Barack Obama ascends the stage Sunday at the Unity journalism convention, fresh from an exhaustively chronicled overseas tour, he will face a surprisingly divided audience.

Not on the subject of whether Obama should be president — members of the four minority organizations that comprise Unity are largely Democratic. But many at the quadrennial gathering differ on whether the underlying current of enthusiasm for Obama's historic candidacy should be constrained or allowed to spill forth on live television.

In addition to race, the issue boils down to questions of human emotion, empathy versus ethics, and whether a group that has experienced its own share of prejudice can resist responding to Obama's powerful oratory and potent symbolism.

In an e-mail sent to the 6,800 conference attendees, Unity advised that "every effort should be made to maintain professional decorum during the event, especially since it will be broadcast to millions of people."

Yet the same diversity embodied by Unity itself can blur the definition of decorum.

Barbara Ciara, president of NABJ and the anchor/managing editor at WTKR in Norfolk, Va., said it would be inappropriate "to show enthusiasm on any level" on Sunday because of a perception that minority journalists' coverage is slanted by their ethnicity.

"Maybe I'm a little bit old school, but I do believe there's a trust we have to achieve with our audience of viewers, listeners and readers," she said. "In order to trust you, they have to believe you're going to act dispassionately. You can't start jumping around like a little bumblebee just because a bee that looks like you is in the room."

Leonard Pitts, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Miami Herald, believes that media objectivity is "a fairy tale we're supposed to pledge allegiance to."

"It's asking a little bit much to ask a room full of African-American journalists, or a room full of journalists of color, who have seen people like them and probably seem themselves excluded many times on the basis of color, not to have some sort of emotional reaction to the success of the person who may arguably become the first African-American president," said Pitts, who is black.

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Analysis: Obama treated like a president on tour

LONDON (AP) — Maybe the foreign leaders Barack Obama met with on his mid-campaign overseas trip were merely hedging their bets and don't believe he will win the White House this fall.

But that's not how many of them acted.

Jordan's King Abdullah flew back early from Aspen, Colo., to host dinner at his palace, then personally took the wheel of the royal Mercedes to drive his guest to the airport.

"God bless you," Israeli President Shimon Peres greeted Obama the next morning in Jerusalem.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy virtually endorsed the man he called "my dear Barack Obama." He observed puckishly he wasn't meddling in the U.S. election when he suggested Obama follow his own lead by winning the top political office in the United States.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, himself an aspirant for higher office, rarely strayed from Obama's side during a photo opportunity-rich trip to the village of Sderot near the Gaza Strip targeted by Hamas rockets.

And Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced — twice — in the days surrounding Obama's visit to his country that he favors a timeline for the withdrawal of American combat troops that is remarkably similar to the one the Democratic presidential contender favors.

In London, David Cameron, head of the opposition Conservative Party, made sure British as well as American television cameras recorded him with his guest in three separate locations in less than an hour.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was something of an exception. No welcoming remarks for the cameras, no photos of the two meeting in her office. She did issue a statement calling Obama's speech before 200,000 people citing a need for a renewed U.S.-European alliance "a positive signal." But that was after she had embarrassed the presidential hopeful by making it known she did not think the historic Brandenburg Gate was a suitable venue for a political event by a traveling American.

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THE DEMOCRATS

Barack Obama met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Conservative leader David Cameron in London before flying home to Chicago.

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THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain spoke by satellite to a forum on disability issues.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Sen. John McCain aspires to be the leader of this party and we intend to make sure that the light can fully shine on him, as it should, as he heads into the last 90 days before the election." — White House press secretary Dana Perino, explaining why so many of President Bush's fundraising events are off limits to reporters.

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STAT OF THE DAY:

Federal Election Commission reports show Democrat Barack Obama has raised at least $1 million from donors who identify themselves as Americans living in Great Britain, Germany and France, while Republican John McCain has taken in at least $150,000.

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Compiled by Douglass K. Daniel.