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  Trans-Atlantic Track Record: When Will Obama Speak to Europe?

Trans-Atlantic Track Record When Will Obama Speak to Europe?

By Steve Kettmann in Berlin

Part 2: 'I've Traveled Extensively to Europe, I Love Europe!'

Clemons, Conason and others who explored the matter emphasized that they did not think the missed opportunity in any way raised questions about Obama’s fitness for high office, given his sharp learning curve and obvious intelligence, as well as his basic internationalist orientation. However, they and others did think Obama could be more candid about just which countries he has visited in Europe and when, especially after the candidate told the Iowa Independent Web site that month " I’ve traveled extensively in Europe. … I love Europe."

Conason called on Obama at the time to release full travel records, writing, "If Obama wants to show where he has been, he merely has to release his passport records. Then everyone would know that his boast about traveling extensively in Europe is true -- even if this year he didn't have time to convene a hearing on the momentous issues affecting our relations with that continent and the world."

Conason told SPIEGEL ONLINE that Obama still has not released the travel records. "I don't know anything more about Obama's visits to Europe because he has never released any further details about them, such as his passport file," he said. "That may yet come up again in this campaign, however."

Obama’s chairmanship of the subcommittee came up in a February TV presidential debate, and Obama replied that he became chairman of the subcommittee "at the beginning of this campaign, at the beginning of 2007." In effect, he offered a disarming display of honesty by acknowledging that, as someone running full-time for president, he just had not had time for the subcommittee. That explanation mostly quelled the controversy, but for those who see US-European relations as one of the most important areas in the next administration, the missed opportunity continues to raise concerns.

"I think most reporters accepted his explanation that he couldn't do much with the subcommittee because he was running for president, which doesn't explain why he accepted the chairmanship or didn't step down," said Conason. "I don't think most campaign reporters understand much about how Congress works, why subcommittee hearings can be important, etc."

Jackson Janes first learned about Obama’s subcommittee role shortly before he came to Germany in February for the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy, and found little if any awareness of the matter in Europe.

"He has not, to our knowledge, done anything with that committee," Janes said at the time. "I spent the weekend with 400 people here from the security community, and nobody knew about that. Rather strange, isn't it? In dinners and over drinks I casually mentioned, 'Did you know he's the chairman of that subcommittee?' and they all said, ‘Really?’"

Still, Janes also said he didn't think the subcommittee matter represents an important factor, since the key to good trans-Atlantic relations for the next president will be finding a way to make progress on such difficult issues as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, climate change and energy policy more broadly, as well as relations with Russia and China.

"A President Obama would have to move those policies in a direction which will demonstrate that his engagement strategy shows results," Janes said. "He is getting hammered on that from McCain. So if he wins, he will want the Europeans to help him with these challenges. Just how the EU can help will be the question for him to put to the Europeans. And how they respond will be a measure of success, or failure, as far as the US audience is concerned.

"The trick is going to be how he can focus on those things which the Europeans can really deliver and not necessarily going at them with expectations that they cannot fulfill. Take Iraq. The only way more can be done there is to get a UN mandate up and visible. Otherwise the European public would balk. In Afghanistan, he can also ask for more troops but how many will really come is anyone's guess."

Steve Kettmann is an American journalist based in Berlin. His most recent book is a " Letter to a New President," co-written with Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which will be published later this month in the US by St. Martin’s/Thomas Dunne Books.

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