Israeli leaders have been steadfastly loyal to Bush, sometimes describing him as the strongest supporter of Israel ever to inhabit the Oval Office.
But this week, several Israelis -- including former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the hawkish Likud Party -- signaled that they were ready to set aside Bush's insistence that it would be foolish to talk with Iran unless it first halted nuclear activities that Israel and the U.S. fear would give Tehran the ability to make a bomb. The Israelis said they were willing to accept Obama's plans to talk to top Iranian leaders as a means of exhausting diplomatic possibilities.
Nathan J. Brown, a specialist in Arab politics at George Washington University, said that Obama's visit came at a time when the Bush administration has a "very weak hand" in the Middle East because of "its failure to build strong partnerships, the unrealistic goals it has set, the overstretch in terms of military positions, and the natural effects of reaching the end of the term."
The trip "may have highlighted this weak position and prompted some regional leaders to position themselves toward a new administration," he wrote in an e-mail message.
In Paris on Friday, President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has gone out of his way to repair French relations with Bush, presented himself as Obama's "buddy" and said France would be "delighted" to see the Democrat elected as the next U.S. president. Sarkozy said the two have "converging" views on issues such as climate change and Iran's nuclear program.
Obama's appearance with Sarkozy contrasted with McCain's low-key visit to Europe and the Middle East in March. There was no joint news conference in Paris; McCain answered journalists' questions in a courtyard without Sarkozy.
White House officials said Friday that the administration's relationships with the Iraqi and Israeli governments remained strong and that Obama's conversations were not disrupting plans.
"We're not going to let this trip be a distraction," Press Secretary Dana Perino said.
She otherwise refused to talk about Obama's trip but said pointedly that when Bush and the Iraqis decide upon a "general time horizon" for a change in the U.S. role, "these will not be dates plucked out of thin air based on an American political calendar or based on an American, you know, inside-the-Beltway decision of, 'We think this would be a good date to remove troops.' "
