Barack Obama's world tour

When John McCain began attacking Barack Obama earlier this year for failing to visit Iraq lately, he probably didn't expect Obama to take the challenge and steal the media spotlight for a week long world tour. But that's what's happened since Barack Obama touched down in Afghanistan last weekend.

If the McCain camp expected an Obama trip overseas would highlight the Democratic candidate's inexperience in foreign policy, the strategy may have backfired. From Kabul to Baghdad, and now onto Jordan, Israel, Britain, France and Germany, Barack Obama's first international trip since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee is being covered by the media like a world tour for a popularly elected leader.

All three major television networks featured Obama's tour prominently in their broadcasts Monday night as though they were covering a trip with the President of the United States. "Tonight, Barack Obama in Baghdad tells ABC News he still opposes the surge, while John McCain tries to find a way to force Obama off of center stage," said Charlie Gibson.

There was Obama riding in a helicopter over Iraq with General David Petraeus, the very commander who John McCain had said Obama needed to meet. There he was again sharing a meal with U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. And there was Obama meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki just days after Maliki seemed to endorse Obama's withdrawal plan.

The McCain camp continued to put pressure on Obama during the week, but most of the media coverage seemed to favor Obama. The Washington Post ran a front-page above-the-fold photo Tuesday of Obama meeting with Petraeus. Similarly, the front page of the New York Times on Tuesday featured a 4-column photo of the Illinois senator in a helicopter with General Petraeus.

"The Iraqi government on Monday left little doubt that it favors a withdrawal plan for American combat troops similar to what Senator Barack Obama has proposed, providing Mr. Obama with a potentially powerful political boost on a day he spent in Iraq working to fortify his credibility as a wartime leader," the Times reported today.

"After a day spent meeting Iraqi leaders and American military commanders, Mr. Obama seemed to have navigated one of the riskiest parts of a weeklong international trip without a noticeable hitch and to have gained a new opportunity to blunt attacks on his national security credentials by his Republican rival," the Times story continued.

Obama was also able to deflect criticism that the trip was a publicity stunt or political campaign abroad by taking along U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska, and Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, in a bipartisan show of support.

The Democratic candidate did not back down from his proposal for a 16 month withdrawal timeline from Iraq. Instead, he said he found "a strong, emerging consensus" for the redeployment of U.S. combat forces from Iraq, according to a CNN report.

So with all the focus on Obama this week, what's a Republican candidate to do? One answer may be to announce a running mate. Reports leaked out this week that McCain's camp might make an announcement about his running mate this Thursday in Louisiana. Until then, it's back to the Barack Obama show on television.

See AP video from Obama's trip to Iraq...

In this news video from Al Jazeera, Obama is shown meeting and sharing a meal with soldiers in Afghanistan.