Barack Obama in Berlin: Take a closer look on this city
Today, I attended the speech of Barack Obama at Street of the 17th of June/Siegessäule. As I did, another estimated 200.000 people came to hear Obama speak. On my way back, on an escalator at central station, I was asked by two nice elderly US citizens why I’ve been there since they could simply not understand what’s on a u.s. presidential candidate so interesting to so many people here.
My answer was just half of the truth, I have to admit. I said that I studied political science and one of my main subjects was political communication. I was interested in the setting, the scenery and the speech of a presidential candidate abroad. But thinking about it later, I have to add some more remarks (even though this post is going to have some lengths).
First of all, it is my professional interest. Usually, I’m not able to see a candidates speech. I read a lot of articles and books on campaigning in the US and for the White House especially. Even though I was aware that his speech and scene would never be able to be close to his home matches, I was pretty much interested in seeing at least a little of this. Barack Obama might become the next president of the United States, but the president of the United States - I’m not sure whether, despite all the talk about the leading role of the US in the international relations and the economic field, US citizens are really aware that they are not going to elect “their” president. They are going to vote for the next most powerful man politician in the world.
Today in the morning, someone asked me in broken german for the way to Siegessäule (Victory Column) where Obama was going to deliver his speech. It turned out that he was a french photographer, just arrived from Paris and leaving late today. He wanted to see “this guy”. So did I. And so did many. Barack Obama is some kind of pop star nowadays.
When Barack Obama began to speak, the crowded mass was waiting for the upcoming. When Obama referred to the historical moments such as the airlift which rescued the inhabitants of Berlin from starving during the blockade it sounded like a short history lesson. Since the story itself is commonly known and some kind of overquoted in Germany during the last years, many people in their us-sceptic attitude were sure that this long introduction aimed at the US audience (at least, that’s what I thought and people around me commented). When Mr. Obama spoke about the historical relations and ties between the US and Europe, many people had some question mark in their eyes. Communism - even though it was much more concrete behind the concrete of the Berlin wall, never had the same overwhelming negative attitude in Europe as it had in the US. The enemy was not communism. The enemy has always been dictatorship of all kind.
As was noticed before, the Senator, US and fellow world citizen Barack Obama has no background in international relations. Due to that, his speech was awaited with some tension. He mentioned a lot of things the crowd was demanding for - i.e. his engagement for nuclear disarmament, against climate change and for reducing carbon emission, for the environment and stronger international institutions, for the poor and disadvantaged in the world, a dialogue with those in islamic countries who do share the values of the occident. He also mentioned things the crowd was not giving the same good feelings for the expected upcoming president. He not only wanted to re-establish and deepen the ties across the atlantic ocean. He also demanded that Europe takes it’s fair share in caring for this planet not only in environment but also in military and political means. Especially his praisings of the NATO were nothing he earned applause from the masses – the alliance, as any military option, is not very popular in Germany. Most people see it more as a need but a really welcomed organization.
So, has it been some historical moment? I think it has been, in case, Obama becomes president. The typical German, maybe European view is: how can anyone be so stupid to elect George W. Bush as a president? An anti-intellectual texan cowboy without any fundamental knowledge of the world, surrounded by geostrategists and lobbyists who’d like to rule the world? Maybe I’m exaggerating at this a little bit, but the disappointment of the re-election of Bush has cut deep holes into the trust in the electoral masses of the former close ally. The Iraq war and it’s aftermath was nothing inevitable, when you read political analysis before most of the problems that now turned to be true were predicted and no surprise at all. The Iraq war was built on lies, was led under a circumstances which made many in the world shook their heads.
Could a U. S. president Barack Obama help fix the problems of the world? Since there’s not much choice for all those who’d like to see the world turn into a peaceful place in the univsere where people can live their lives in freedom - Yes. Barack Obama delivered just a solemn, demanding and very voter-aimed speech in Berlin today. But his message is well known across Europe. Here, the ‘Change you can believe in’ gives hope and raises expectations. And, by the way, maybe John McCain is known in the US to be an experienced politican on foreign relations. But in Europe, McCain is only known as a brand for french fries - not for strong ties. He’s, as a german idiom says, an “empty sheet” to most. Today, Barack Obama built up the vision of a world many would prefer to live in.
I should have mentioned that on the escalator, I think. Hoping the two arrived in Zürich well and enjoyed travelling with the state owned german railway company.
One minor note on his language: when Obama mentioned “the blogger in Iran” and said he’d like to address direct messages to those Mr. Bush does not speak to, I had to smile. I imagined german politicians to speak that way.
10 responses so far
How was the mood “on the ground”?
From the television, I had the feeling that most of the applause was more like courtesy than filled with enthusiasm. And Gale Tufts who was in the crowd commented tonight that she was impressed by the great silence of so many people “just listening”.
Interesting. I like your take on the speech. It’s good to hear from someone who was there. Although I would just suggest…
Communism—even though it was much more concrete behind the concrete of the Berlin wall, never had the same overwhelming negative attitude in Europe as it had in the US. The enemy was not communism. The enemy has always been dictatorship of all kind.
Depends on which Europe you mean, I think. In the West, probably. In the East, not so much. Lithuania did, after all, ban all Communist and Nazi symbols a few weeks ago. Many countries in Western Europe only ban Nazi symbols, no?
The entire Cold War metaphor is worn out by now, though. Communism is dead (or transformed into something different and Chinese), and constantly trying to make every new international problem fit its mold is asking for trouble and misunderstanding.
When I hear Obama talking about terrorists and using communism as a mirror, I tend to doubt if he knows what he’s talking about. And, like you say, I don’t think Cold War emotions really hit home in most places anymore, whether it be Western Europe or America.
Julien, I think this is more showing that Gale Tufts has no clue about the german attitude at all kinds of events (some may say: due to historical reasons). We do not cheer, we do not have those professional clappers and do not appreciate it (the masses freak out only in soccer and even then only when it’s a quarter final of a world cup or at least a semi final in european championship - and then there is much more beer available than it was today). This is a lesson all US pop stars learn in Germany quite fast, for example tech guru Tim O’Reilly last year (wrote about this on my usually german blog in english, one of the reasons I started an english one, too).
Pacze Moj, you are absolutely right, this is the perspective of a young western european born, western raised (well, some day, the wall fell), lifelong nato-shielded german. But I’d like to add to your comment, that many (former?) socialist parties are still attracting many voters in central and eastern european countries .
Just to defend Ms. Tufts: She was saying this in a rather positively impressed, not negatively surprised tone.
And I was asking about the mood not because I expected massive cheer-and-applause but just because the cameras did not really catch it while Obama was speaking. And since you are a media expert and were a live witness, I thought you could give a fancy report…
The mood was good, the crowded people were having high expectations and to be honest, I’m not sure whether every little sentence of his speech was understand by everyone - even though more or less all german citizens had some english courses at school. As you probably noticed, my knowledge of the language of the candidate is very limited, too (even though I think I got 99 per cent of the speech right).
Thank you for the post, Falk. I will be casting my vote for Obama in November.
There can really be no question that Obama’s intended audience was on the other side of the Atlantic.
I don’t mean to imply that he didn’t care about the crowd on hand, but the speech’s subject matter was crafted to appeal to Berliners only on a surface level, while containing a deeper subtext directed towards the people at home.
That’s simply to be expected from someone who is in the midst of a Wahlkampf. And as an American who travels to Berlin every year, I was DELIGHTED that he chose my second-favourite city on earth to speak in.
I believe that he will - as President - at least attempt to reach out to the rest of the world, so even if his capacity to create the deep changes that people expect is nil, he still has my vote.
Es gibt doch keine bessere Alternative, oder?
@ Pacze Moj: Believe me, communism is not at ALL dead as a subject in America … the ghost of the USSR still has a powerful effect on people of my parent’s generation, and they are the ones who vote.
I read a book yesterday that illuminated the Bush-voting sector of the American public better than anything I’ve ever seen … I highly recommend it for some disturbing insight into the American redneck psyche: “Deer Hunting with Jesus”
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I wanted to comment on your blog site — as you have done so on mine. Thank you for giving me insight in to your perspective, as well as my butchering of the German language.
I choose the words at random - and as you told me: “I don’t know which online translator that you tried failed miserably on this particular task.” Well at least I am not running for U.S. President because failing miserably could be catastrophic.
Regards,
Autone