An interesting comparison, if only a historical one. Be sure to read the last sentence.
Overseas visits cancelled to save Bush’s blushes.
By Martin Kettle in Washington.
20 April 2000
The Guardian
(c) 2000
George W Bush is abandoning plans to make a series of image-boosting overseas trips later this year, including one to Britain, because his advisers fear that his tendency to make foreign-policy gaffes may turn them into a public relations embarrassment for his US presidential campaign.
Mr Bush was to have made up to three foreign trips in May and June to help burnish his image as a statesman and to get to know the world leaders with whom he will have to work if he wins the White House, including Tony Blair. But the trips to Europe and Asia have now been dropped from his schedule, and he is likely to make only one overseas journey between now and the November 7 election, to Latin America.
Officially, his campaign team says the European trip has not yet been formally abandoned, but his spokesman, Ari Fleischer, confirmed yesterday that it was now `most unlikely’, because of scheduling difficulties. Diplomatic sources on both sides of the Atlantic confirm that they no longer expect to see Mr Bush in Europe before the election.
At the heart of the decision to scale back Mr Bush’s planned international exposure is thought to be the belief, especially among some of his Texas-based advisers, that the trip could turn into an embarrassing media ordeal which could diminish Mr Bush’s credibility in the contest with his Democratic opponent, Vice-President Al Gore.
In the past, US presidential hopefuls have made something of a point of being photographed on the international stage at this point in the political calendar, in the belief that such contacts go down well with the voters back home as well as being a helpful investment for future understanding and cooperation.
Mr Bush’s predecessor as the Republican challenger, Bob Dole, made such a trip at the end of 1994, during which he met the then British prime minister, John Major, in Downing Street, and other leaders.
But, reflecting the changed priorities of modern campaigning, Mr Bush’s advisers have decided to play safe and remain in control of their man’s candidacy back home rather than risk things spinning out of control in the relatively unfamiliar environment of an overseas visit.
Instead of visiting Europe and Asia, Mr Bush is now expected to make only the visit to Latin America - probably to Mexico and other central American states - which he will use to try to strengthen his appeal among US Latino voters, a constituency which he has cultivated as governor of Texas,
Mr Bush will meet the Mexican president, Ernesto Zedillo, next week when the two men are scheduled to attend a border bridge opening ceremony in Laredo, Texas.
The advisers believe that Mr Bush would have been likely to face demonstrations in some European capitals on such issues as capital punishment, gun control and the environment, though such events would not necessarily be seen as a political disadvantage to him.
Their main anxiety was thought to be the risk that Mr Bush might be ambushed by the travelling US media, or even by their European counterparts, into committing another in the series of gaffes which plagued his early efforts to present himself as a qualified leader of the free world.
Mr Bush has still not fully lived down his failure to name a number of foreign leaders when a Boston television journalist surprised him last year with an on-camera `pop quiz’ about the leaders of India, Pakistan, Taiwan and Chechnya. Though Mr Bush has subse quently made generally well-received keynote speeches on defence and foreign affairs, he remains dogged by the view that, on these issues at least, he is lost without his cue cards.
Plans for Mr Bush to visit Europe had been under active discussion between his advisers and diplomats in several European capitals for several months.
The trip was thought likely to take place once Mr Bush had wrapped up his party’s presidential nomination - which he did in March - and before the Republican convention in Philadelphia in late July. Mr Bush himself confirmed to the Guardian in November that this was his intention.
Though no itinerary had been finalised, London was always near the top of the list of likely stops, and the prime minister issued a formal invitation to Mr Bush late last year.
Other stops discussed in the Bush camp included Belgium, where Mr Bush was to have met Nato and European Union officials; Germany, because of its importance; Spain, where the governor’s proficiency in Spanish could be exploited; Ireland, always a tempting stage for an American politician running for office; and Poland, where Mr Bush hoped to address post-cold-war east-west issues and make a pitch to the largely Catholic Polish-American vote.
In spite of his unusual personal and political closeness to President Clinton, Mr Blair has made several private moves in recent months to open channels of communication with Mr Bush. Even though a pre-election meeting between the two men will not now take place in Europe, an encounter in the US has not been ruled out.
Mr Gore, who is well known in many foreign capitals because of his eight years as vice-president, has no plans to make any campaign-related foreign visits before the election.
, but why is Mc Cain so incurious as to not at least pretend to seek our counsel. 
do you want to extend this to any church of technology?