John McCain’s presidential campaign had a hard time Thursday with Barack Obama’s upcoming overseas trip.

The Democratic presidential candidate will visit the Middle East and Europe, with announced stops in Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England. The Illinois senator also has pledged to visit Iraq and Afghanistan this summer, but aides haven’t said whether the war zones will be part of that trip.

McCain’s spokeswoman, Jill Hazelbaker, said early Thursday that the trip “is about politics. It’s a way for Obama to try and compete on foreign policy.”

Republicans are trying to cast doubts on Obama’s ability to handle foreign crises, particularly wartime decisions, given that he is a first-term senator. McCain has become experienced in foreign policy during his four terms in the Senate.

McCain has visited Iraq eight times, Obama just once, and the Republican Party on its Web site is counting the number of days until Obama visits again. It was 921 days as of Thursday.

Asked later whether he thought Obama’s trip to Iraq and Afghanistan was a political stunt, McCain said he did not.

“The fact is I’m glad that he’s going to Iraq. I’m glad that he’s going to Afghanistan. It’s long, long overdue if you want to lead this nation and secure our national security,” he told reporters on his campaign bus.

“If he was so concerned about Afghanistan and the threat there and the need to send additional troops, don’t you think he should have gone there?” McCain asked.

Later in the day, however, he said he thought other parts of the trip seemed geared toward politics, not the visits to the war zones.

“If he has political rallies in other places, obviously it’s a political trip,” the Arizona senator said, referring to the possibility of an Obama speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

___

On the Net:

Republican National Committee: http://www.rnc.org