Barack Obama’s visit to the Middle East and Europe turned out to be a great success.

The Democratic candidate did not commit any faux pas, proved that he feels comfortable among European leaders and showed class and diplomatic skills when he declined to publicly criticize President Bush during a press conference with French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Instead he stated that abroad America should speak with one voice.

Future president?

It was a good week for Obama. His trip was widely broadcast by the most watched TV stations and diverted the public attention away from the developments in the Republican candidate’s campaign. An excited Berlin correspondent of the Polish TV station even called Obama a sure next president of the United States.

Her statement may well have been ahead of time as the presidential election is still three months away and the polls do not indicate the victory of either of the candidate. The predominance in polls Obama enjoyed last month now melted to insignificant few percent.

The latest surveys indicate that McCain is successfully catching up with his Democratic rival especially in crucial swing states, like Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota whose inhabitants usually have a decisive voice in the presidential campaign. It should be a warning sign for Obama’s supporters. Still nevertheless, in spite of the overwhelming yearning for change and disappointment with the current Republican administration, the elderly Republican candidate, who promises continuation of the unpopular war, is holding up pretty well.

While Obama glittered in fleshes and cameras in Europe, McCain took his campaigning to Ohio, Colorado and other important states. In Berlin and Paris the black senator was greeted with frenetic ovations and newspapers overflowed with – surely justly earned – complements for Obama.

It should not be surprising, however. Obama has for long enjoyed immense popularity in Europe and his trip to the Old Continent only strengthened the love Europeans granted the Democratic candidate. If it was for the citizens of the whole world to decide, Obama would easily become the next president of the United States.

The decision about who will move into the White House does not, however, lie in the hands of the Europeans or the Middle Easterners, for that matter. It is up to the Americans to choose their next president. Those Americans that John McCain went to see while Obama enjoyed his trip oversees. How detrimental to Obama’s campaign was the overseas trip – it is still to be seen.

A leap into the unknown

So far – as the last week’s opinion poll results indicate – voters still value McCain over Obama, based on a couple of criteria that may turn out decisive in the election. The criteria are: experience in matters of international affairs and national security, leadership skills and consistency of principles and believes. The latter has recently been contrasted with Obama’s recent revolts/changes in opinion. For most Americans, McCain seems a simply “safer” candidate. Obama is an epitome of the long wished for changes but also a turn into the unknown. If in the coming months the situation on the international arena will become more acute and the state of the economy will improve – which we can hope for judging from the dropping gas pries – the balance may tip to the benefit of the 71-year-old senator from Arizona.