A Real American Leader in Paris...

Barack Obama certainly looked and sounded very presidential this morning in a brilliant joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkoszy. After a private meeting, the two men held a lengthy and substantive encounter with reporters. Obama managed to thread the needle of looking and sounding like a potential President without going over the line between a candidate and an already elected Commander-in-Chief. Displaying deep knowledge of key world issues, seasoned diplomatic skills, humor and uncommon aplomb, Obama's performance was, as the French say, a tour de force.

The warmth from the French side was palpable as Obama made it clear that the U.S. could have a President who put America's interests first without demeaning and marginalizing America's oldest ally. The optics of the press conference told the whole story: a confident and amiable Obama standing shoulder-to-shoulder with an unusually warm and welcoming Sarkoszy.

Later in the day, Senator Obama flew on to London where he will meet tomorrow with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Based on the success of his travels so far, I expect Obama will put another notch in his 'ready-for-prime-time' belt while in the U.K.

Triumph at the Victory Column

Today Senator Barack Obama hit all the right notes in a speech to more than 200,000 cheering, flag waving (American flags, please note!) Germans at the Victory Column in the heart of Berlin. The presumptive Democratic nominee recalled the critical victories America and Europe have achieved in the past when they have worked closely together. He challenged Europeans and Americans to renew their historically strong partnership in order to win future victories in the struggle against terrorism, intolerance, genocide and climate change. In an invocation perfectly attuned to his Berlin audience, Obama urged Europeans and Americans to join forces to tear down the remaining walls that still divide the peoples of the world.

Eight years of go-it-alone, 'cowboy diplomacy' have alienated so many of our friends around the world. It was therefore especially refreshing to see an American political leader received so warmly in the capital of our economically most powerful ally in Europe. Tomorrow, Obama heads to Great Britain, our closest European ally, and to France, America's oldest ally in Europe. Today's speech in Berlin was a very auspicious beginning for what promises to be a triumphant European trifecta for the Illinois senator.