Could inexperienced Obama still claim an edge on foreign policy?

Obama has gone on the front foot on foreign policy, countering charges of a lack of experience. This area of comparative Obama weakness is a key message of the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Despite this, Obama can also claim three advantages over the Democratic field.

Firstly, he made a brave call in opposing Iraq. And his measured reasons for doing so look ever better with hindsight. Hence his slogan 'Judgment to Lead'.

He also says he is "running to do more than end the war in Iraq. "I'm even more interested in ending the mind-set that got us into it. It's easy for us to lay all of the problems of the world at George Bush's doorstep."

Secondly, does being a third culture kid give Obama with 'superior intuition' on foreign policy, as Zbigniew Brzezinski, chief national security adviser to the Carter Presidency, suggests?

Thirdly, and most powerfully of all, image.

The day I'm inaugurated, not only will the country look at itself differently, but the world will look at America differently

For that reason, President Obama would be the most likely to engage and excite non-Americans. But will that help or hinder him at home?

For, while the world is watching, it is Americans who will vote.