people throughout the WORLD know that he is the best thing since JFK
Obama gets pop star reception in Germany
By Jeff Zeleny and Nicholas Kulish
Thursday, July 24, 2008
BERLIN: Senator Barack Obama stood before a sprawling sea of people here Thursday evening and issued a trans-Atlantic call for cooperation, imploring America and Europe to bridge differences and rekindle old alliances to restore global stability and security and join forces to confront existing and unforeseen threats.
"If we're honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart and forgotten our shared destiny," Obama said. "In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future."
Pausing for a moment, he added: "Both views miss the truth."
Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee who is on a weeklong international tour, delivered his address at the base of Victory Column in Tiegarten Park.
He looked out toward the Brandenburg Gate, where President Ronald Reagan offered his historic remarks about ending the Cold War, and spoke to crowd that the German police estimated at 200,000 people.
It is rare for American presidential candidates to make major speeches outside the United States, and the crowd in Berlin was believed to be the largest ever for a candidate appearing abroad. Obama has appeared before crowds at home of up to 70,000 people.
"I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before," Obama said, confronting the unusual, and controversial, issue of campaigning abroad at the outset of his remarks. "Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for president, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world."
Linking the battle against terrorism to the struggle of the Cold War that defined this city for decades, Obama spoke very directly on the need for more soldiers to fight in Afghanistan, a politically unpopular stance in Germany.
"The Afghan people need our troops and your troops, our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda," Obama said.
Obama receives overwhelmingly positive attention from the German press, frequently referred to approvingly for his "rock star" aura, or as the large-circulation Bild newspaper put it in its Thursday edition, the "political pop star." The support for Obama is breathless, but there is some question as to how substantial it is.
While Obama was addressing a German crowd, the most important audience was watching in the United States. The television images, which showed Germans and others waving American flags, created a curious tableau that Republicans in the United States sought to seize upon.
In a 30-minute address, Obama did not criticize President George W. Bush or Senator John McCain. He proclaimed his love and appreciation for the United States, but also offered a gentle dose of criticism, saying: "America cannot turn inward."
The response to Obama has been so positive that the coordinator for German-American relations at the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, Karsten Voigt, tried to scale back expectations, reminding Germans in interview after interview that Obama would have to support positions unpopular with the German public, like a stronger presence that involved more fighting for the Bundeswehr, the German Army, in Afghanistan.
First and foremost, Obama is popular because he is not Bush, who is unpopular in Germany. Asked why they support Obama, his opposition to the Iraq war usually comes up first. In interviews with a dozen Germans on their way to hear the speech, there was a surprising openness to increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan. When it comes to Obama's domestic policies, or stances on the economy, trade or currencies, most Germans interviewed drew a blank.
The excitement in Germany over Obama has grown steadily through the Democratic primaries, reaching its peak with his address in the Tiergarten, Berlin's equivalent of Central Park in New York City. Obama's photo was splashed across the front pages of German newspapers. Leaflets advertising the speech with quotes from John F. Kennedy's famous address fluttered on the streets.
"Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe," Obama said. "No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more - not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity."
Before the speech, Obama met for about an hour with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Federal Chancellery before holding an afternoon session with Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
A German diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the two sides had agreed to keep the meeting private, said the discussion with Merkel went very successfully, saying: "They quickly found themselves on the same page. It was not superficial at all."
The official said they spoke in English, and sat on a small sofa, rather than at the table, the more usual but also more formal setting for her discussions. The official said that after the discussion they went out onto Merkel's small balcony and she explained the sights of the government district around the building, most of which was built since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
In his speech, Obama addressed the threat of nuclear weapons, Iran and the conflict in the Middle East, offering no new policies, but laying out the challenges facing the United States and other leading nations.
"This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East," Obama said. "My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions."
He added: "Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words 'never again' in Darfur?"
The crowd was filled with many U.S. citizens, including those who stood in lines to register to vote. But the overwhelming share was made up of German residents, who cheered when Obama called upon the United States to correct its deeds.
"I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people," Obama said. "We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions."
Not forgetting his audience at home, Obama added: "But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived - at great cost and great sacrifice - to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world."
McCain takes swipe at Obama
Senator John McCain said Thursday that he would like to give a speech in Germany as U.S. president not as a White House candidate, taking a swipe at Obama while the Democrat gave his address in Berlin, Reuters reported from Columbus, Ohio.
"I'd love to give a speech in Germany," McCain said. "A political speech or a speech that maybe the German people would be interested in, but I'd much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate."
Standing in front of a store in a neighborhood known as German Village, McCain - for whom foreign policy is considered a strength by many - said he would focus on issues at home while his opponent traveled abroad.
"We're going to be campaigning across the heartland of America and talking about the issues that are challenging America today," he said. |
