GET POLITICAL with VIC LIVINGSTON (Opinion): Obama Faces Minefields on his Foreign Affairs Offensive, and Not Just On the Ground

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GET POLITICAL with VIC LIVINGSTON (Opinion): Obama Faces Minefields on his Foreign Affairs Offensive, and Not Just On the Ground

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WILL HUBRIS OR SOMEONE'S DIRTY TRICKS

TURN MISSION INTO 'OPERATION CHAOS'?


• REMEMBER DONALD SEGRETTI?

As Barack Obama heads to Europe and the Mideast with the three major American TV news anchors in tow, the mainstream media once again suspends disbelief and looks as though they're along for the journey as chroniclers of the prince's ascension to the throne.

Not so fast, Brian, Charlie and Katie. Over the past month, Obama has lost a sizable lead over John McCain in the major polls.  Right now, he's barely clinging to a six-point margin over the Republican, whose campaign performance of late has displayed signs of disorganization and candidate fatigue. Obama should be on cruise control as he heads into the national convention in August.  Instead, the once invincible savior of the left is dragging the cross.  

Obama has alienated major segments of his base with his flip-flops and right-leaning nuances on issues such as gun control, FISA/wiretapping, the death penalty and church-state affairs.  Even if you give him a pass on Iraq, as many on the left are wont to do, this cavalcade of expediency has cast a long shadow on Obama's image as an agent of "change you can believe in."  Instead, what we've seen of late is the emergence of a new slogan: "Talk change, but practice pragmatics."  He's a typical south side Chicago pol after all, his finger to the wind and his "different kind of politician" veneer tarnished by past associations with the likes of Tony Rezko and the Reverend Wright.

Obama starts his trip with only a lukewarm bon voyage from the base, some of whom are actually checking out the bona fides of Republican-turned Libertarian Bob Barr.  The former congressman and constitutional acolyte could turn out to be the Ralph Nader of this cycle, should enough Obamanauts chart a new course toward someone truer to his professed core values.

But Obama faces other dangers as he embarks on his globe-trotting, and not just the obvious physical hazards of traveling to war zones and other capitals of political and social strife.  There's something I call the "sabotage factor."  Not to point fingers, but it wouldn't surprise me if some of Obama's tour guides plant some minefields in his path -- not literally, but a more sophisticated set-up. 

Feed him some disinformation and hope he regurgitates it to the press, which will have been given a covert heads up. 

Take him to a location where he's met with some audible sneers and maybe a couple of boos, perhaps from American troops. 

Make it so he inadvertently violates some local custom.  Supply him with a translator who garbles the message from the locals.

The possibilities for dirty tricks are endless.  It's very Machiavellian to mention his name, but remember Donald Segretti, the impish prankster of the Watergate era?  Rest assured that his playbook survives, if it hasn't actually been embellished.

Then there's always the possibility that Obama's hubris leads him to say something out of his league or out of school, an indicator of his inexperience or his utter chutzpah, trying to sound like a foreign affairs maven when he's only a had a couple of years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (time served mostly in absentia, since he was busy running for president).

Yes, watch this journey closely; for Obama walks a path laden with thorns, some that may be strewn before him purposely, with ill intent.

And if Obama steps into it big-time, better send some reporters to gumshoe Hillary Rodham Clinton.  Because the Clinton camp still thinks Obama can't win, a belief that's been cemented further by his declining poll numbers. 

While Barack's away, Hillary's in play -- talking to superdelegates, sounding our her financial backers, softening the domestic battlefield for a possible last-minute putsch -- should Obama return from his foreign affairs mission a wounded political warrior.

You won't hear it from the enthralled Network Triumverate; but in the political wars, as in all wars, it ain't over 'til it's over.  And while Barack is "over there," Hillary will soldier on, working the home front.

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