FishbowlDC has learned that the National Journal's Linda Douglass is joining the Obama campaign as its traveling press secretary. Her husband, John Phillips, has long been an Obama supporter. She is the former ABC News Congressional correspondent.
Posted on 07/19/2008 10:25:45 AM PDT by STARWISE
Brack Obama launched his week-long world tour with a brief stop in Kuwait and then began a longer visit to Afghanistan, ahead of planned stops in Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England.
The highly anticipated trip was launched in secrecy, with Obama’s campaign refusing to confirm that he had left the country, citing security reasons.
The campaign announced early Saturday morning that Obama was on the ground in Kabul, Afghanistan. The U.S. military later said Obama was greeting U.S. troops at Jalalabad airfield in eastern Afghanistan.
Obama made a secret stop in Kuwait and visited U.S. service members, then flew on to Kabul.
Obama and his party also met with troops and military brass at the huge Bagram Air Base, according to reporters on the ground.
The stops in Afghanistan and a later visit to Iraq are part of a congressional trip that includes Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.).
Mark Lippert, foreign policy adviser in Obama’s Senate office, was the only staff member who accompanied him on the congressional delegation trip, the campaign said. Lippert had returned in the late spring from a tour of duty in Iraq as a naval reservist.
A blogger briefly posted word Friday that Obama was in Kuwait, but the campaign refused to confirm it and the post was removed. The campaign had not given the dates of the trip, insisting that the press refer to it as “upcoming.”
The later two stops in the Middle East and the three stops in Western Europe are part of a separate campaign trip that will include a full plane of press and staff.
The campaign said Friday that Obama will meet with a huge slate of world leaders, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, King Abdullah of Jordan, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Ohlmert, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni, Israeli Likud Party Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Robert Gibbs, the campaign’s senior strategist for communications and message, announced the beginning of the trip with a 3:24 a.m. e-mail to reporters:
“At approximately 3:15 AM Eastern/2:15 AM Central, I received a phone call telling me that Sen. Obama had landed at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. Since leaving Washington on Thursday, Sen. Obama had stopped and visited troops in Kuwait.”
That was followed by a 1,000-word pool report by the Chicago Tribune’s John McCormick that covered Obama’s movement to Washington, where he dropped the pool.
Obama’s small traveling party flew from Chicago to Washington on a Gulfstream III (G-III) on Thursday, then took a military plane from Andrews Air Force Base.
The G-III was hot when the party boarded, and the pool report by McCormick says Obama made a joke about the upcoming desert weather.
“We’re just easing you into it,” Obama told the Secret Service agents accompanying him.
Obama was accompanied on the flight to Washington by eight Secret Service agents; just one staff member, senior adviser Linda Douglass, his traveling spokesperson; and two reporters — McCormick and Glen Johnson of The Associated Press.
Obama read The New York Times on the flight to Washington, then paused for the reporters to ask him what he hoped to learn on the mission.
“Well, I’m looking forward to seeing what the situation on the ground is,” he said. “I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense, both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of, you know, what the most, ah, their biggest concerns are. And I want to thank our troops for the heroic work that they’ve been doing.”
McCormick says the senator then was asked whether he plans to deliver some tough talk to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki about doing more to stand up as the instruments of self-governance in their own nations.
“Well, you know, I’m more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking,” Obama replied. “And I think it is very important to recognize that I’m going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time, so it’s the president’s job to deliver those messages.”
Obama left Andrews at about 3:17 p.m. Thursday. The campaign said Reed and Hagel were aboard.
The Illinois senator said in the days building up to the tour that Afghanistan needs more help as it battles the Taliban-led insurgency.
If he wins the November elections, he has said he would commit at least two more combat brigades, up to 10,000 men, to Afghanistan while downscaling the size of the force in Iraq.
"We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more non-military assistance to accomplish the mission there," Obama said in The New York Times on Monday.
"Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been."
In a major foreign policy address on Tuesday, Obama reiterated his promise to get most US combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months, and to focus on Al-Qaeda havens in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"We cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary, and as president I won't," he said.
~~~~
Talk about gratuitous dribble:
"Obama read The New York Times on the flight to Washington, then paused for the reporters to ask him what he hoped to learn on the mission."
Just long enough to go to the airport gift shop, get a pressie photo taken, visit the head, make sure the passport was stamped and reboard the plane.
The Lamestream Media have long since given up any pretence of neutrality in this presidential election.
FishbowlDC has learned that the National Journal's Linda Douglass is joining the Obama campaign as its traveling press secretary. Her husband, John Phillips, has long been an Obama supporter. She is the former ABC News Congressional correspondent.
Here’s why our parents told us “never say never”...I KNEW I could NEVER dislike a dem more than Hillary...but Barack Obama has shown me the error of my ways.
Focus on Al-queda havens in Pakistan...Whoops... better ‘splain that!! Maybe REFINE what you said...
Senator Barack Obama at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan with, from left: William B. Wood, the American ambassador to Afghanistan; Senator Chuck Hagel; Sgt. Maj. Vincent Camacho; Senator Jack Reed; and Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser.
If Afghanistan is the focus, why did he visit Iraq in 2006...and not Afghanistan??
I wonder if they made the troops unload their weapons as they did when LBJ visited us during VEEEEEtnam?
Oh nooooooo...he’s standing in front of my/our beloved eagle of the 101st AB. #$%@^&*@$)&*!!!!
(Screaming Eagle)SE Mom
I hope someone is watching the bedroom door on the plane least Perky Katie Crock... and his Lordship The Messiah decide to compare inches or news LINES during the flight.
Speaking on the plane before it landed in Afghanistan, Obama said: “We have one president at a time so I’m not gonna be travelling to negotiate anything or making promises.
“I am there to listen, but there is no doubt that my core position, which is that we need a timetable for withdrawal, not only to relieve pressure on our military but also to deal with the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and to put more pressure on the Iraqi government, is now a position that is also held by the Iraqi government.”
Obama said that it was time to respect the wishes of Iraq as a sovereign government and start withdrawing troops. A move he said, is in the strategic interests of the US.
Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from the capital, Kabul, said Obama’s visit is attracting a lot of attention even among ordinary Afghans.
“His visit is cloaked in secrecy ... during his time here he will meet the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, although there will be no press conference just an opportunity for the two leaders to speak and pose for photographs.”
Bays said that if Obama is elected president and takes office in January 2009, then the Afghan elections will be one of his top priorities because Karzai will also be facing elections in the next year.
“Afghanistan is one of Barack Obama’s top priorities ... his key note speech on foreign affairs and he spoke for much of that speech about Afghanistan.
“He said he was going to withdraw troops from Iraq in his first year in office, and he was going to send two extra combat brigades to Afghanistan, an extra $1bn each year for this country.”
The senator has said that Afghanistan is the central front in the so-called “war on terror,” and he is expected to call for more US action to rout the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Obama is also expected to visit Iraq on his tour ahead of the November election.
Also in a surprise visit, Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, touched down in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, on Saturday.
I 2nd your disgust with this circus.
That is an amazing admission and one that I share with you.
Note how Osama Obama HUSSEIN stands next to his fellow commie Reid and as far as possible from the Maj. General.
All the way to Afganistan for a fifteen minute photoop with one Serg. Major and One Maj. General who thought too highly of his Men as to force them to meet with this “Expletive Not Inserted”.
Hopefully, the Proud, Strong, Patriotic Screaming Eagle crapped on Hussein’s Weird Head and Dumbo Ears! :-)
Obama makes Chuck Hagel look Presidential...now that’s pretty sad (and lest I be labeled a racist, it has nothing to do with his race, everything to do with how he carries himself.) Obama definitely looks “out of his element”...hands clasped behind his back, not good body language for a Presidential candidate.
http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/body.php (interpretation of body language)
At certain moments I even get a little bit nostalgic for Hillary’s screeching cackle... Obama is the most loathsome Alpha-Democrap since Jimmy Carter. Okay Pelosi comes very close. But she is actually more pathetic than loathsome.
The thing about Hillary - we know what to expect from her. This other guy and his “civilian national security corps”...we’ve not seen the likes of him in presidential politics.
Phony a-hole. Socialist punk without a record of anything meaningful. I would be ashamed to have a president with such thin credentials and substance.
For tracking purposes....
You got it.
I just noticed something in the article, where they quote an Al Jazeera source saying something about 2 leaders meeting. Two leaders? Uh hello Al Jazeera, we only have 1 leader, and it’s certainly NOT Barack Obama! There is a certain Mr. Bush, President Bush that is. And guess what! He’s our only leader at this point! NOT Barack Obama! (heaven forbid!)
Obama Lands in Afghanistan for First Tour of War Zones (With Details)
**************************EXCERPT************************
The trip is intended to build impressions — and counter criticism — about his ability to serve on the world stage in a time of war.
*************************************snip********************************
The governor of Nangarhar Province, Gul Agha Shirzai, a former mujahedeen commander who has a brutal past but is favored by the United States as a doer, was the only Afghan official to meet the senators, along with the United States ambassador and generals. Mr. Shirzai, who is thought to have his own aspirations in Afghan presidential elections next year, has been praised for his tough action against poppy cultivation and official corruption in his province.
“Barack Obama thanked the officials of Nangarhar and the people of Nangarhar for eliminating poppy cultivation, fighting corruption, and he promised that the United States would give more help to Afghanistan and especially to Nangarhar,” he said by telephone after the one hour meeting.
***********************************
So the first official he meets is one who has aspirations to replace Karzai.......
They pulled the Video....
Headline?
Preps for meetings: A library of foreign affairs
Obama takes more than 100 books on trip
Reads one an hour, has staff experts test him: "Perfect!" say reporters
Obama looks like a collge kid or someone’s son that got to go on the trip with Dad.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2048104/posts#1
Obama Addresses Troops in Afghanistan
Look at those somber faces .. like they were dragged there.
It dawns on me that the reason the itinerary is secret isn’t because of security. It’s because it allows Obama and the MSM embeds to COMPLETELY control the narrative.
I read once that the younger Prince Charles often appeared with his hands behind his back and that this was symbolic of the fact that he was a prince, maintaining a certain distance from "the commoners". In this position, for instance, no one would be able to rush up and shake his hand.
Maybe Obama has the same attitude or maybe he is self-conscious about his forearms.
I have also heard that this guy walked around with his hands behind his back.
What is he saying to them...you are all having poop sandwiches for dinner?
Well, the Maj. Gen. looks presidential. That’s about it.
HOW OBAMA SLIPPED OUT OF COUNTRY
Sat Jul 19 2008 17:02:39 ET
Pool Report
The motorcade left Sen. Obama’s home in Chicago’s Kenwood neighborhood at 11:11 a.m. There was one Chicago Police Department patrol car, followed by two SUVs, a sedan and a press van. Riding in the press van were agent Jill, Sam, John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune and Glen Johnson of The Associated Press.
The motorcade headed north on Lake Shore Drive to I-55 (Stevenson Expressway) and toward MDW. The CPD blocked traffic for our turn onto the western perimeter of the airfield, where we arrived at 11:31 a.m.
Waiting on the tarmac was a Gulfstream III (G3) executive jet (tail number N366JA). We exited our respective vehicles at 11:34 a.m.
The crew was waiting outside for the senator’s arrival and a few photos with him near a wing. He was wearing tan slacks and a short black jacket. After fishing around in the back of one of the SUVs for his luggage (he seemed especially to be checking his suits inside a garment bag), he was on the bird by 11:36 a.m.
Also getting on the plane were eight Secret Service agents and the two reporters. The senator briefly greeted us as we walked past his seat in the forward section. Seated near him was senior spokeswoman Linda Douglass, the only staff member on the flight.
After everyone found a seat on the crowded plane, the pilot announced that the flying time would be between 80 and 85 minutes. All seemed eager for him to start the engines, since the plane had been sitting under a hot sun and the cabin temperature was likely somewhere in the 90s. Sweat had begun to roll down the faces of some of the agents.
“We’re just easing you into it,” Obama told his bodyguards, referring to the heat and the desert weather they would all be traveling to in the coming days.
As the plane taxied, the senat or, wearing a short-sleeve black shirt, chatted with Douglass. The plane was wheels up at 11:55 a.m.
Your pool asked Douglass if we could chat with the senator about his upcoming trip. She said she would check, but later told us that we would only get a brief chance to ask him a couple questions once at Reagan National Airport.
Janis, our stewardess, first served the senator his lunch (chicken and rice and broccoli). Everyone else had sandwiches, wraps, chips and candy (yes, just like on the bus), although we were served on china and given green place settings and cloth napkins.
As the plane peaked around 41,000 feet and 500 knots, according to the computer screen tracking our location at the front of the cabin, the senator read a copy of the Wall20Street Journal. Johnson had claimed an aisle seat and reported that he first read a story about off-shore oil drilling and then one about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
By the time we were descending, at 17,000 feet, he had switched to the New York Times, spending most of his time in the Sports and Arts sections.
We were wheels down at 2:17 p.m. local and parked with the engines off by 2:24 p.m.
After getting off the plane, Douglass said there was time for “one question,” adding, “Then, we’re making him leave. He’s behind [schedule].”
Your pool, with the noise of the jet’s engines in the background, quickly asked what two or three things Obama was hoping to learn on this mission.
“Well, I’m looking forward to seeing what the situation on the ground is,” he said. “I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense, both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of, you know, what the most, ah, their biggest concerns are. And I want to thank our troops for the heroic work that they’ve been doing.”
Then, the senator was asked whether he plans to deliver some tough talk to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki about doing more to stand up the instruments of self-governance in their own nations.
“Well, you know, I’m more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking,” he said. “And I think it is very important to recognize that I’m going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time, so it’s the president’s job to deliver those messages.”
By 2:32 p.m., the motorcade was rolling. This one included two local police cars, three SUVs, a Honda Accord, a minivan equipped with lights and sirens and another local patrol car. We were off the DCA property by 2:36 p.m.
Your pool was in the Honda with Douglass. It was driven by Molly Buford, who works in Obama’s senator office and also for the campaign.
The mot orcade traveled I-395 to I-295 and then on to the Suitland Parkway, entering a northern entrance of Andrews Air Force Base at 2:57 p.m.
We passed several military helicopters and planes before arriving at 3:01 p.m. near an aircraft that had no markings, with the exception of an American flag on the tail. This was the plane that would transport the congressional delegation to their destination. A ground crew member told us it was a Boeing C-40C.
The senator greeted several military personnel waiting for him near the plane. He was carrying a laptop bag and had changed into some brown leather boots upon arrival in Washington.
The senator was also greeted by Mark Lippert, foreign policy advisor in his senate office. Douglass said he was the only member of Ob ama’s staff traveling with him on the congressional delegation trip. Douglass later told your pool that Lippert had returned in the late spring from a tour of duty in Iraq as a naval reservist.
By 3:03 p.m., the senator was on the aircraft, having been saluted by a member of the military on his way aboard. At 3:09 p.m., the plane’s door was closed. Four minutes later it was in motion and wheels up at 3:17 p.m., taking off to the south.
Later, Douglass confirmed that Sens. Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel were on the plane before our arrival. Your pool had not seen them at Andrews.
— John McCormick, Chicago Tribune.
http://drudgereport.com/flashop.htm
FYI - Tail #N366JA owned by Joda LLC, Chesterfield, MO
LOL .. fashion, fickleness, fecklessness and filosophy .. ;)
Obama is scoring lots of points calling for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan. And a report from Petraeus indicated that foreign fighters are leaving Iraq in defeat and to Afghanistan. So why aren’t we sending more troops to Afghanistan? We should follow and destroy them where they go, and it would cut Obama’s rhetoric off at the knees.
This entire trip is a charade being played out by the MSM. I haven’t turned the tv on today. I don’t think I can stand watching the foolish gushing that has become the free press.
fershure.................... LOL
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