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. He acknowledged, however, that Americans are mainly focused on issues like gas prices and home foreclosures. On the Brown-Obama agenda Saturday: terrorism, troops for Iraq and Afghanistan, troubled financial markets, climate change and Mideast peace. Britain, the United States' closest ally, was the Democratic candidate's final stop after an ambitious run through Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, the West Bank, Germany and France. ...
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