Obama to visit with world leaders Posted on July 20th
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 Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as part of a campaign-season trip that aides described yesterday as substantive rather than political.
The Illinois senator also is to meet with opposition leaders in Israel and Britain. Officials have yet to provide precise dates for the visits and have confirmed few details about the itinerary, citing security details.
They said they were not yet ready to disclose where in Berlin Obama would speak when he delivers an address on U.S.-European relations. But it will not be the Brandenburg Gate. A senior foreign-policy adviser to Obama, Denis McDonough, said that the candidate thought a speech at the Brandenburg Gate “would be too presumptuous,” after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she opposed such a visit.
“The trip is not at all a campaign trip, a rally of any sort,” spokesman Robert Gibbs said. 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.”
McDonough said Obama would meet with Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Germany, President Nicolas Sarkozy in France, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Conservative Party leader David Cameron in Britain. In Israel, Obama will meet with Olmert as well as President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Palestinian leaders have said Obama will also visit the West Bank for his talks with Abbas.
Obama intends to travel aboard a jet chartered by his presidential campaign. And while his own aides insist politics are not involved, Democrats 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.
In addition to his trip to the Middle East and Europe, Obama has also said he intends to visit Iraq and Afghanistan this summer.