24 July 2008

Obama Speaks in Berlin

Barack Obama will deliver an address today at the "Victory Column" in Berlin's central Tiergarten park. Obama will speak to the chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, her foreign minister and chief rival, before his speech at the Siegessäule at 7:00pm local time.

Before departing for Germany, Obama told reporters that his speech will consist of a "substantive articulation of the relationship I'd like to see between the United States and Europe."

"It is not going to be a political speech," said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. "When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally.

"But he is not president of the United States," a reporter reminded the adviser...

"He is going to talk about the issues as an individual ... not as a candidate, but as an individual, as a senator," the adviser added.

Chancellor Merkel appeared to warm to Obama yesterday, when she told a news conference that the young American candidate "is well-equipped physically, mentally and politically".

Around 700 policemen will be in place for the visit and city workers have been setting up barriers around the "Siegessaeule", a 226 foot high column built to celebrate 19th century Prussian military victories over Denmark, France and Austria, since Monday. Crowd forecasts vary widely, ranging from 10,000 to nearly a million that are expected to show for the event.

“I doubt we’re going to have a million screaming Germans — let’s tamp down expectations here,” Mr. Obama told reporters as he flew here from Tel Aviv, joking that he only recently learned that his audience was expected to be so large.







4 comments:

  1. What will be really funny will be the Republicans spinning the crowds for Obama as a bad thing. Like having a US president that is loved all over the world is a bad thing.

    This will be probably the worst two weeks in McCain campaign history. Let the propaganda begin.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What will be really funny will be the Republicans spinning the crowds for Obama as a bad thing. Like having a US president that is loved all over the world is a bad thing.

    This will be probably the worst two weeks in McCain campaign history. Let the propaganda begin.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Brown Man. It appears that most world leaders favor Obama over McCain. Someone wrote that Barack becoming President would do a lot for our country's credibility. I couldn't agree more.

    ReplyDelete
  4. When in doubt, change the game. That's what the Obama team has done consistently - broaden the playing field and rewritten the rules.

    He's gone from the primary rope-a-dope to the the global rope-a-dope, changing the size of the ring to where it is all but impossible for McCain to keep up.

    ReplyDelete

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