Obama aides say European trip is one of substance, not politics
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama intends to sit down with European leaders as well as King Abdullah of Jordan, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as part of a campaign-season trip that aides described Friday as substantive rather than political.
The Illinois senator also is slated to meet with opposition leaders in Israel and Britain.
Officials have yet to provide precise dates for the trip and have confirmed few details about the itinerary, citing security considerations. In a conference call with reporters, they said they were not yet ready to disclose where in Berlin Obama will speak when he delivers an address on U. S.-European relations.
“The trip is not at all a campaign trip, a rally of any sort,” said spokesman Robert Gibbs. He said Obama would hold “a series of substantive meetings with our friends and our allies to talk about the common challenges that we face and the national security dangers for the 21st century.”
Denis McDonough, a senior foreign policy adviser, said Obama would meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Germany, President Nicolas Sarkozy in France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as Conservative Party Leader David Cameron in Britain.
In Israel, he said, Obama will meet with Olmert as well as President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He also will talk with Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party.
Republicans have cast Obama’s trip as political stagecraft rather than a substantive trip.
And while his own aides insist politics is not involved, Democrats sharply criticized Republican rival John McCain this spring when he flew to Canada aboard his campaign jet for a brief trip that he described as nonpolitical. While in Ottawa, McCain implicitly criticized Obama as part of a speech defending the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Campaigning on Friday in Michigan, McCain pledged to help autoworkers rebuild their industry and in the process jump-start the entire U. S. economy.
On the day McCain visited one of the areas hardest hit by the economic downturn and rising gas prices, one of his top advisers, former Sen. Phil Gramm gave up his campaign position a week after saying the country was a “nation of whiners” facing merely a “mental recession.”
Earlier in the day, McCain was standing in a town hall meeting with hundreds of people and several shiny new cars and sounding at times like a confident, encouraging salesman as he praised General Motors’ plans for a long-range electric car.
“The key, integral, vital part of our ability to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil will be directly related to that sign over there,” said McCain, pointing to a sign for the Chevrolet Volt. “I wish you every success, and I want to help in every way.”
The likely Republican nominee sought to bolster his appeal to voters by speaking to those who’ve seen fellow workers lose jobs and homes in Michigan.
Even as Detroit’s Big Three automakers try to adapt rapidly to demand for smaller, more efficient cars that sip $4-a-gallon gas, many in the industry fear the presidential candidates’ talk of energy alternatives and conservation will translate into more job losses.
McCain, who has proposed giving a $5,000 tax credit for those who buy a no-emissions car, said the successful technology would mean hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
Most questions from the crowd centered on economic issues like health care, free trade and the effect environmental laws could have on the U. S. auto industry.
McCain also pushed a plan for the government to help homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments get a new, cheaper fixed-rate mortgage.
