Obama abroad: 'Ich Bin Ein Globalist'
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
By John Metzler
The American Presidential campaign bandwagon rolled into Berlin, Germany as Democratic candidate Barak Obama brought his idealistic message of global change to middle Europe. So amid the near shameless American mainstream media frenzy over Obama’s whirlwind political tour, (if it’s Thursday it must be Berlin), many Europeans too are enchanted with the democratic contender. Obamafest, Obamania and Obamafever are among the monikers used to describe Germany’s (and much of Europe’s) dizzy infatuation with the American presidential candidate.
There are many reason for this; novelty, a lingering opposition to the Iraq war and the Bush Administration, (though this has receded dramatically in the past two years), a generally positive feeling towards America, and a perception that an Obama Administration would be politically less assertive on the security and foreign policy front than the Republicans. This dovetails with the European Union’s preference for “soft power,” and often endless diplomacy, in foreign relations.
The Obama campaign’s political road show trip to the Middle East and Europe are all part of a focused plan to bring the inexperienced candidate some foreign policy gravitas to counter his lightweight standing. This is not a bad thing but should have been done during his brief time in the U.S. Senate. Thus this whirlwind style over substance tour, swooned over by much of the major media, has created a free TV infomercial for the Democrat candidate and left Republican challenger John McCain near unnoticed. .
Obama’s visit to Berlin, his first to Germany, is a good place to start and I have no argument with him meeting with the Chancellor Angela Merkel or the Foreign Minister to get an overview on much-improved German/American relations. Listen and learn.
The choice of a venue in the German capital, and symbolism is so very heavy there, was the challenge. His original choice, as if a visiting U.S. Senator gets to choose a setting for his election speech in a foreign capital, was the historic Brandenburg Gate, site of momentous speeches by former U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Recall the previous men were elected president, and on State Visits to Germany. Obama is campaigning overseas for president but acting as if it were of a State Visit !
The site of the Victory Column evoked a problematic symbolism; erected to commemorate the Prussian victories over Denmark and later France in (1870-71), the monument was also a favorite of the Nazi regime. Not that history gets in the way with the all knowing, Global Team Obama, but considering you are speaking at a monument to victory over France one day and then visiting the French president the very next day, is a bit awkward. But who cares? The message of change outweighs the lessons of history!
It’s equally curious that an American politician, who’s not President, is holding a mass political rally in Berlin, a city which sadly evokes a less than pleasant experience with political rallies.
The unprecedented address at the Victory Column presented a broad-brushed globalist bromide for the world’s ills while at the same time stressing the vital importance of trans- Atlantic relations. Saying of America and Europe, “On both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart and forgotten our shared destiny,” was key, as was his catch all “The Burden of global citizenship binds us together.” Happily Obama’s speechwriters recalled many times the heroic allied Berlin Airlift which saved the blockaded city from the Soviets, and how the city, West Berlin actually, kept the flame of freedom alive during the Cold War. He said importantly, “Allies must listen to and learn from each other.”
But equally the speech presented a rambling globalist view in which the biggest applause lines did not deal with the fall of the infamous Berlin Wall or freedom, but of “a world without nuclear weapons,” bringing the Iraq war to a close,” and Darfur. Obama’s Eurosocialist worldview notwithstanding, there was little spontaneous applause during his address.
Yet even the conservative newspaper Die Welt headlined, “Obama Inspires Germans for a New America.” Perhaps.
Surprisingly Sen. Obama (though he speaks no German, French or Spanish for that matter) did not end the address with the linguistic courtesy of Vielen Dank/Many Thanks. John F. Kennedy’s famous 1963 speech in solidarity with the people of free Berlin ended memorably “Ich bin ein Berliner” I am a Berliner. The Senator from Illinois should have said; “Ich bin ein Globalist.”