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Obama travels this weekend to show world he's ready

Ellis Henican

July 20, 2008

Travel, they say, is broadening, and Barack Obama is on an exciting trip.

Even in this season of $4.50 gasoline and $15 checked bags, people find a way to go. It's deep in the human psych, this call to wander as the temperatures rise. No weak dollar, no busy schedule, no lame excuse of any sort can keep a traveler at home.

Obama's doing Europe and the Middle East, with special stops in Iraq and Afghanistan. In all these places, the U.S. dollar is about as weak as the Mexican peso used to be and even our closest friends have gotten testy with us.

Here's the good news for Obama: His every move will be covered by a huge media throng. That's also the bad news. Any slight slip-up could lead the news.

Ellis Henican Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

It's the most important journey of his presidential campaign, where Iowa and New Hampshire and the other stops have ultimately led. This is the trip where he'll show the world that he's ready, that he's more than just an eloquent young man with a promising biography, that he has the stature, the maturity and the smarts to be president.

He will. Or he won't. Even he's not sure yet.

But travel, as they say, is broadening. Together, we will watch and learn.

NOT THE SUMMER OF LOVE: It isn't just Christie Brinkley's ex, Peter Cook, who's been skunked in the Land of East End Divorce. His powerhouse lawyers, Sheresky Aronson & Mayefsky, just ended up on the losing end of a lawsuit appeal against an ex-client represented by East Hampton attorney David E. Eagan. The client is Holly Whitmore, ex-wife of the Hamptons landscaping king. The state Appellate Division in Manhattan has ruled unanimously that Norman Sheresky's firm can't collect the full $150,000 "premium fee" it sought beyond its $350,000 bill.

ROCKY CAREER PATH: Assaulting a supervisor is rarely good for the resume. But Town of Islip tree trimmer Louis Llovet did show passion at work. Gotta give him that. He walked out of a spirited meeting at the highway department with a third-degree assault charge. Hot headed? Maybe. Apathetic? No way.

HEAD ABOVE WATER: Give Kate Murray this much: The pool-alarm proposal from the Hempstead supervisor may not instantly stop the summer drowning wave (eight so far at LI pools and beaches). But someone's diving into the issue at least.

K-9 PATROL: Will Suffolk police officer John J. Sheehan face on-the-job discipline for the fatal shooting of Zeus the dog? Sheehan was jogging in upstate Hague with a loaded handgun when the neighbor's boxer approached. Pow! One to the head! Now, a Warren County judge has acquitted the LI officer of animal cruelty but convicted him on two Conservation Law violations - shooting across a road and shooting within 500 feet of a home.

ASKED AND UNANSWERED: Now that a thresher shark's been sighted in shallow Zach's Bay, will the surf-and-suntan set finally stop calling that family-friendly patch of sand "Diaper Beach?" ... If LI unemployment is really 4.7 percent, how come I know so many people out of work? Are my friends uniquely unemployable? ... With Massachusetts about to repeal its ban on out-of-stater gay weddings, how's this for a 2008 business idea: Nonstop seaplane rides, Fire Island-to-Provincetown? ... Twelve years? Why on earth did the NTSB need 12 years from TWA Flight 800 to draft up stiffer fuel-tank rules? ... Hate to be a nit-picker after Commissioner Ray Kelly's big "attaboy" for dead-aim Det. Ivan Davison. But is it really good police practice for drunk off-duty cops to being running around with loaded guns? ... How soon 'til Websters adopts "Uggla" as an official synonym for "error?" As in: "What's the record for ugglas in an All-Star game?" It even sounds right, doesn't it? ... Shea was great, Billy. But doesn't Yankee Stadium deserve a proper send-off too? ... Capistrano's swallows they are not. But shouldn't we somehow note the annual return of West Nile birds to Long Island? The first dead crow of the year has tested positive in Commack ... Other than loudly demanding, what can MTA board members Mitch Pally and James McGovern actually do to bring the LIRR third-track project in on time? ... The Joker's always creepy. But Holy Netherworld, Batman, am I the only moviegoer who finds a dead Joker (Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight") the absolute creepiest of all?

E-mail: ellis@henican.com

BEAT THE HEAT

1 Order one last iced latte at a closing Starbucks.

2 Go morning shark gazing at Zach's Bay.

3 Cruise Manhattan in an over-chilled hybrid taxi.

4 Draft a list of future "Wall of Shamers."

5 Be grateful your marriage wasn't featured in the Newsday divorce package.