A quick dispatch before the (Obamaless, for now) Obama charter takes off from Midway. This not-a-political-trip marks the unveiling of the newly remodeled and repainted Obama charter plane. It’s spiffy on the outside, with the Obama logo on the tail and “Change We Can Believe In” painted where “North American” used to be. If I [...]

My colleague Aryn Baker files this report from on the ground for TIME.com, while Abigail Hauslohner gauges the mood in Baghdad regarding his visit. Meanwhile, I’m still in Chicago. The campaign charter is supposed to take off this evening for Amman, where we will be joined by the candidate. Scuttlebutt has it that he will [...]

Portions were just broadcast on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Calling the situation in Afghanistan “precarious and urgent,” Obama said the United States cannot wait until the election of a new President before it starts making plans to shift more troops into Afghanistan. What struck me most was his tough talk about Pakistan, whose dysfunctional government [...]