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Obama says foreign tour will reassure Americans

July 25 06:05:01 AM, Yahoo News

Reuters - U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama hopes his visit to Europe and the Middle East will show U.S. voters that he is a safe pair of hands, the Democrat said in an interview on Friday.

"What this trip has done is allowed me to talk about some of the critical issues we face," Obama said in an interview broadcast on CNBC television on Friday.

"It has also allowed me to send a message to the American people that the judgments I have made and the judgments I will make are ones that are going to result in them being safer," he added. It was not clear when the interview was conducted.

Obama is trying to allay concerns among U.S. voters and address accusations from his Republican challenger John McCain that Obama, 46, a first-term senator from Illinois, lacks the experience in foreign affairs necessary to run the country.

Vietnam war veteran McCain is making national security a central focus of his campaign.

In a wide-ranging speech to over 200,000 people in Berlin on Thursday evening, Obama urged Europe to stand by the United States and stressed the need for unity in the face of new global dangers.

"I have firmly believed since the beginning of this campaign and the last several years that we can't solve the problems we face in the United States alone," Obama told CNBC.

"We're going to be more effective if we've got an international coalition," he said.

Echoing the message he gave in his speech on Thursday, Obama named Afghanistan, Iran, climate change and energy policy as areas in which the United States and Europe should work closely together.

Obama, who got a rock-star's reception in the German capital, goes on to Paris later on Friday. In the last week, he has visited Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel.

(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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