The political gamesmanship played by both the leaders of Japan and Germany serves to illustrate how dangerous it is for a President without diplomatic experience to meet directly with foreign leaders, especially those who have adversarial feelings towards the US.

Obama's inexperience along with this optimistic attitude could make him an easy target for diplomatic gamesmanship and cause serious problems for the US. This makes me extremely nervous.

He'll be like Carter Part II and thanks to Carter we have Iran.

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"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

President George W. Bush, 8-5-2004

Carolina Politics Online

THIS IS REAL HOPE AND CHANGE!

Unless Obama is one of those Presidents who surrounds himself with people who are actually qualified and will give him differing points of view, rather than sycophants and cronies.

If he's smart enough to realize his limitations, he should be able to handle himself very well.

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"Take me back to the way life's never been."

I worry about this too. If Obama's past associations (Wright, Ayers, et.al.) are any indication of the type of cabinet members and advisers he'll appoint if elected POTUS, we could be in some deep doo-doo.

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"My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to
change it." -- Barack Obama

Iran is far from Carter's fault.

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"Take me back to the way life's never been."

If by chance he does get elected, I hope you are right. He will need to rely and listen to those with experience. Otherwise, Obama could be setting himself up (along with the US) for some potentially very costly reality lessons. As bad as things may be in the Middle East, the situation can get much worse very fast.

I didn't hear him say he was optimistic about it. I just heard him say he's willing to try it. If I had heard that he felt talk would fix all the problems, that would concern me. But being totally unwilling to talk at all solves nothing either and even aggravates it. That also concerns me.

Many times talk does go a long way. Take Northern Ireland for example. For so long the flat rule was that nobody would talk with the IRA. Clinton broke with that rule by inviting Gerry Adams. The British and American naysayers said it was a 'surrender to terrorists,' etc. It worked and the Good Friday Agreement has been a wonderful accomplishment. And that is with a group that was called a 'terrorist group,' never mind a nation.

All through the Soviet years, the US had diplomatic relations with the Soviets. 'Cloak and dagger' still abounded. But, talk and keeping diplomatic channels helped avoid a war. The US has repeatedly talked with nations with which it has poor relations and has avoided wars as a result and eventually gotten better end results.

Where the US has been steadfastly unwilling to talk to someone, things have not gotten any better. Talk does not always avoid a conflict, but not talking hasn't helped avoid them either. What it has done is keep a crappy relationship that possibly could have been improved.

And when the US isn't talking, others are. The US keeps getting screwed out of trade with places like Iran, Cuba, etc. Refusing to talk also helps screw chances to get inroads not only with the government but also with the people who may change the government's attitude or even the government itself.

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Garden of Remembrance, Tuam, Co. Galway, Ireland. Dedicated to my deceased cousin, Ann Marie McHugh, town native, victim of Twin Tower Attack NEW YORK September 11th 2001 and the victims of the tragedy.

I'd hope that whoever the POTUS ends up being he/she would know that they can't possibly know everything, and that he/she must have advisors that are dependable and intelligent.

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"Take me back to the way life's never been."

Much relies on the quality of advisors and intelligence. IMO, this has been a real problem point with the US, and on a bipartisan level. Quite frankly, the advisors both parties' people have had in the past few decades have largely sucked big time (Vietnam era, Iraq, ME advising for the past few decades, the CIA and others consistently blowing major intelligence issues for decades, etc).

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Garden of Remembrance, Tuam, Co. Galway, Ireland. Dedicated to my deceased cousin, Ann Marie McHugh, town native, victim of Twin Tower Attack NEW YORK September 11th 2001 and the victims of the tragedy.

So we are clear, I am not saying there should not be dialogue. I am saying, however, that foreign diplomacy is extremely tough, especially with those who not exactly your frends right now. Obama, with his inexperience, will have to be extremely careful in how he interacts with these leaders, who will be taking great efforts to size up Obama's strenght as a leader. Any appearance of weakness in determination could create more problems for us versus resolving any.

Agreed, although I would point out that many of the American 'experienced' people have really been personally flawed, misguided and/or clueless too. IMO, good head sense, good personality, good staff and good intelligence are key. Experience or no experience, poor head sense, poor personality, poor staff and poor intelligence have consistently gotten the US into hot water in international relations concerning hot spots.

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Garden of Remembrance, Tuam, Co. Galway, Ireland. Dedicated to my deceased cousin, Ann Marie McHugh, town native, victim of Twin Tower Attack NEW YORK September 11th 2001 and the victims of the tragedy.

Wholeheartedly agree. It seems that history finds that the finest Presidents were those men who surrounded themselves with fine advisors who gave good advice, even if it ran contrary to the POTUS' inclinations.

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"Take me back to the way life's never been."

Agreed...Thanks OSB

The only add I would have is that I feel better having someone who has shown "Good Head Sense" experience as a leader versus someone who's abilities we have to take more on faith.

I agree as well. Unfortunately, the challenge in this election is to find the candidate who will pick good advisors and will be able to put their ego aside and listen to them when they offer alternatives

According to Obamaniacs "Hope and Change" are all we need.

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"My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to
change it." -- Barack Obama