Obama to visit France, Britain, Germany, Israel and Jordan in July end; Obama draws flak for his support to the Senate Wire Tapping Bill; Obama and McCain support strengthened Iran sanctions; McCain camp facing internal squabbles
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  • After having announced late last month that Sen. Obama would be traveling to France, Britain, Germany, Israel and Jordan, the Obama camp tightly guarded the exact itinerary of the Senator’s foreign trip. However, reports in these countries noted that the impending visit would take place at the end of this month. According to the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot, Obama was expected to arrive either on July 22 or July 23 for a two-or three-day visit, during which he would meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The senator was also expected to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace on July 25, according to the French news agency Agence France-Press. However, it was not clear if his travel plans included trips to Iraq and Afghanistan1.

    Meanwhile, Sen. Obama’s ‘yes’ vote for the Senate Wire Tapping bill which had an easy passage during the week, drew strong ire from the McCain camp as well as protests from his left-wing supporters. The legislation approved on July 9 proposes to strengthen government eavesdropping rules in terrorism and espionage cases and effectively grants immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in a secret domestic spying program. Obama’s support to the bill represented a significant departure from his previous stand of opposing the immunity provision in earlier versions of the wiretapping bill. While the Obama camp asserted that the Senator supported the bill as it alleviated his concerns, the McCain campaign accused the Democratic contender of ‘flip-flopping2.’ Sen. McCain on his part, in his traditional ‘pro-national security stand,’ supported the bill.

    Sen. Obama was also being targeted from his ‘progressive’ support base for other positions he has taken during the last few weeks. The Illinois Senator for instance recently expressed his approval of a Supreme Court decision overturning a District of Columbia ban on handguns. In response to another Supreme Court ruling, he spoke in favor of the death penalty for child rapists. He has also endorsed a role for religious organizations in delivering social services. This, many critics fear, would blur the line between the church and the state.

    In response to these allegations, Sen. Obama put forth a forceful exposition of his larger political philosophy while addressing a gathering in an Atlanta suburb on July 8, countering accusations of having moved to the ‘centre’ rather too quickly. Obama reiterated that while he believed in personal responsibility, he also believed in faith and that he has been holding the same positions on the issues in contention for very long. He also stressed that his position on the Iraq war was clear and that he would bring an end to the war once he assumed office3.

    In the wake of the recent missile tests by Iran, Sen. Obama in a statement called for the imposition of tighter sanctions4. During the primary contest, he had stated he would be open to talks with Iran without preconditions, a stand he later on changed to talks without ‘“preconditions” but with “preparations.” While being supportive of sanctions against Tehran, he had criticized President Bush for the “saber rattling about sanctions” when the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) stated that Iran was not building nuclear weapons. Sen. McCain on his part also supported “meaningful and impactful” sanctions against the Islamic Republic. He had also expressed his skepticism that Iran had stopped the nuclear program as argued by the NIE report of December 20075.

    The McCain camp meanwhile was facing increasing internal squabbles. Sen. McCain was being accused of consulting with former campaign advisers without alerting the current staff, thus causing disquiet among them. The appointment of Steve Schmidt for instance as the senior advisor to the presidential campaign two weeks ago put him in charge of all campaign affairs. The move, which dislodged Rick Davis, had raised eyebrows as Schmidt, a veteran of President Bush’s re-election campaign in 2004, was known to have close ties with Karl Rove. Reports also noted that Mike Murphy, who was Mr. McCain’s strategist in the 2000 presidential race, was about to formally assist the campaign6.

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