Obama Advisers Squirm About Berlin Speech

“It is not going to be a political speech,” said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. “When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally.

“But he is not president of the United States,” a reporter reminded the adviser…

The RNC is pumping this quote and pointing to this article from Politico: http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=4A670F03-3048-5C12-002034DF8...

Some observations on this issue.

The exchange over the Berlin speech lasted nearly 10 minutes in a briefing that last nearly an hour. The briefing was, by Obama campaign decree, on background - meaning we could not directly quote a single Obama adviser by name.

During this back-and-forth over Thursday's speech in Berlin at the Victory Column there was a good deal of cross-talk and sheepish Obama advisers dancing around the obvious - that from Jordan through the rest of the trip everything is a campaign event and, with the exception of some security arrangements in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, is under Obama's control.
The Obama advisers dodged and weaved about why Obama's delivering the speech before what could be an audience of tens of thousands - possibly more.
"The senator wants to speak to the people of Europe and it would be inconsistent to exclude the public."
In the midst of this tense exchange, an adviser said when the president delivers a policy speech it's not necessarily the same as delivering a red-meat political speech. That's not an illogical statement, except for the fact that Obama, of course, isn't the president.
The use of this example, though, perfectly encapsulates the Obama campaign's dual approach to this trip. Everything is designed to make Obama look presidential and the Berlin speech is by far the one with the most intense head-of-state choreography behind it.
So when the adviser said it was like a presidential speech, it didn't sound as if the adviser was saying Obama was the president. Before this exchange, advisers said over and over that Obama will set no policy on this trip and seeks only to build relationships, not confuse world leaders about who leads America. This, it seems, is an important bit of context.
What was being said, however, goes to the heart of the internal campaign instinct to make Obama look like a president as often as possible on this trip -- and especially at the massive event/speech in Berlin.
It was in this context this exchange occurred;

“It is not going to be a political speech,” said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. “When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally.

“But he is not president of the United States,” a reporter reminded the adviser…

“He is going to talk about the issues as an individual … not as a candidate, but as an individual, as a senator,” the adviser added.

The Obama campaign will run the show now that Obama has arrived in Amman.
The US embassy provided almost no help in arranging the visit to the Citadel (where the press conference will be held) and is not facilitating the meeting between Obama and King Abdullah.

The movements and pictures from this day forward are entirely dictated by Obama's presidential campaign. While it is true Obama is traveling as a senator, he's also the Democratic nominee and the trip is intended not only to show his ability to maneuver comfortably on the world stage, it's also designed, by the campaign's own admission, to give voters back home a chance to grow more comfortable with movements and settings on the world stage that convey commander-in-chief imagery.

Lastly, the campaign repeatedly dodged questions about whether it would position a camera crew of its own at the Berlin speech for the express purpose of shooting the scene for future campaign ads. The campaign will bring its standard videographers who shoot for the campaign website to the Citadel today and there are no arrangement for a separate commercial camera crew at that event. That there may be one at the Berlin speech suggests that event could produce footage for future Obama campaign commercials. That is not certain, but it is a possibility.

One other note, the campaign deferred questions about Obama's security arrangements in Ramallah. We should receive a more precise read-out on that tomorrow. Either Fatah or Hamas must coordinate security for this visit and that could complicate matters for Obama. Tony Blair recently canceled a trip to the territories over this and other issues.