We were told that Barack Obama’s trip to the war zone, Israel and Europe would bolster him with voters at home. It didn’t. So here’s why by Obama himself:

Heading home from an overseas trip aimed at strengthening his foreign policy credentials, Sen. Barack Obama said Saturday he’s not counting on an immediate political boost and thinks it’s just as likely he’ll experience a short-term dip in polls simply because he’s been out of the country for nine days.

“The reason that I thought this trip was important was I am convinced that many of the issues that we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad,” Obama said, speaking outside 10 Downing Street after his private meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Thats rich.

So you were expecting that you would be hurt somehow? Or that it would provide no benefit? Really now?

Then why in sam hill did you go in the first place? Wasn’t it because you wanted to seem more in touch with foreign policy and put voters more at ease? Wouldn’t this have manifested itself in the polling data?

Obama now is averaging more than one gaffe and slip-up dialy. Yesterdays revelation that he called wounded soldiers on the phone after taking the heat for not going was making a mistake and attemping to correct it by making a worse one. Talk about transparent.

Now today he’s saying that they believed the trip wasn’t expected to help politically prior to going. And the day’s not over yet.

H/T: Lucianne Goldberg