CNN commentator Jack Cafferty, back from a short vacation, gushed shamelessly about Barack Obama’s week-long trip to the Middle East and Europe on Monday’s The Situation Room: "Barack Obama’s overseas trip -- it was almost flawless." He then heralded the Democrat’s enthusiastic reception internationally and how the past week was a blow to his Republican opponent: "We saw foreign citizens waving American flags instead of burning them, or having the host country’s military holding back angry protesters, and, while Obama was away shoring up his foreign policy credentials, it seems the week turned out to be devastating one for John McCain."
Cafferty then outlined all of McCain’s missteps over the past week: "We heard McCain refer to the nonexistent ‘Iraq-Pakistan border;’ he got his timing wrong on the surge and the Sunni awakening against Al Qaeda in Iraq; he called Iraq ‘the first major conflict since 9-11' -- I guess Afghanistan doesn’t count; and, are you ready for this? McCain acknowledged that 16 months for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq is ‘a pretty good timetable.’"
Up against this list of gaffes, Cafferty only mentioned how "Obama did take some heat for canceling plans to visit wounded troops at a U.S. military base in Germany and rightfully so. He probably should have gone."
After reading some recent poll results that have Obama several points ahead of McCain, Cafferty asked as his "Question of the Hour," "Did Barack Obama’s overseas trip change your opinion of him?" He ended the segment by rewording his original point: "It was not exactly a perfect game, but it was -- it was close."
The full transcript of Cafferty’s segment, which began 8 minutes into the 4 pm Eastern hour of Monday’s The Situation Room:
JACK CAFFERTY: Barack Obama’s overseas trip -- it was almost flawless. It’s the first time in eight years that an American politician was greeted so enthusiastically overseas. We saw foreign citizens waving American flags instead of burning them, or having the host country’s military holding back angry protesters, and, while Obama was away shoring up his foreign policy credentials, it seems the week turned out to be devastating one for John McCain. McCain spent the week stumbling around the U.S. making one gaffe after another about foreign policy, which is supposed to be his strong suit. We heard McCain refer to the nonexistent 'Iraq-Pakistan border;' he got his timing wrong on the surge and the Sunni awakening against Al Qaeda in Iraq; he called Iraq 'the first major conflict since 9-11' -- I guess Afghanistan doesn’t count; and, are you ready for this? McCain acknowledged that 16 months for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq is 'a pretty good timetable.' Go figure. And of course, it’s ironic that it was John McCain who kept urging Barack Obama to go overseas in the first place.
Obama did take some heat for canceling plans to visit wounded troops at a U.S. military base in Germany and rightfully so. He probably should have gone. Nevertheless, the polls are reflecting just how good a week it was for Barack Obama. CNN’s poll of polls now shows Obama leading McCain by 6 points, 45 to 39, and the Gallup daily tracking poll shows Obama jumping ahead of McCain by 9 points.
Here's the question: Did Barack Obama’s overseas trip change your opinion of him? Go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile [and] post a comment on my blog. It was not exactly a perfect game, but it was -- it was close.
