Barack Obama is 6,200 miles from the nearest U.S. campaign trail, but as he steps into the international arena, the imagery sent back home is all-American, Commander-in-Chief-like.

A helicopter tour of Iraq with David Petraeus, the general in charge of multinational forces, a chow-down with the troops in Afghanistan, and basketball with U.S. forces in Kuwait.

But if there is anything better in politics than imagery, it is timing and Barack Obama has it.

He arrives in Iraq as the Maliki government says it hopes U.S. combat troops will be out of
Iraq by 2010, pretty much Obama's 16 month timetable.

Though Maliki now says his previous statement that Obama's timetable seemed about right was misinterpreted and in any case was not an endorsement of Obama.

It was more than enough for the Obama campaign to claim their candidate is more in sync with conditions in Iraq than John McCain.

Likewise - politics and on the ground developments dovetailed in Afghanistan where Obama visited with President Hamid Karzai and U.S. troops.

That stop came amidst a resurgence of Al Qaeda and an increase in attacks on coalition troops – lending weight to Obama's argument that the war in Iraq has distracted the U.S. from the real war on terror in Afghanistan.

“We've got to have a clear strategic vision that uses all of our power – our economic power, our diplomatic power, our intellectual power as well as our military power to help make this world safer,” said Obama.

This trip could help bolster Obama's foreign policy credentials, though he told CBS, he sees it more like laying the groundwork for his presidency.

“The objective of this trip was to have substantive discussions with people like President Karzai or Prime Minister Maliki or President Sarkozy or others who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to ten years,” said Obama.

Iraq ends Obama's Pentagon-sponsored portion of his trip – from there on out to Jordan, Israel, France, Germany and England.

It's a campaign paid journey aboard the Obama campaign plane.

His campaign insists this is not a campaign trip.

It's an opportunity to discuss substantive issues with world leaders.

In the end, this is a balancing act - looking presidential, without seeming presumptuous, looking like a diplomat who could repair the us image overseas while seeming like a man tough enough to stand up for U.S. interests.