Ja Wir Können!
7/25/2008 10:10:00 AM Posted In Berlin , obama , speech 0 Comments »
Never in my lifetime (a very eventful 17 years for America), have I ever seen a showing of respect in this magnitude for an American civil servant on European soil. Obama's tour throughout the middle east and Europe ended with a speech given in Berlin yesterday. With the backdrop of the Tiergarten, otherwise known as the "Victory Column", Obama spoke to a crowd of over 200,000 spectators. His speech, which outlined a call for a more united trans-atlantic relationship between the US and Europe, was received well. Not his best speech, but a powerful one nonetheless. At first, I was a little confused as to why Obama was in Berlin. Why go to Europe? The convincing needs to be done here right? After reading his speech online, and seeing some clips on TV, I realized how very incorrect I was. He may be a presidential candidate in the US, but in these times after 7 years of cowboy politics in this country, our image on the "world stage" is skewed. The Brits have a polite relationship with us, but their people don't like Americans. The French, the Spanish, the Italians, the Germans etc. have had a bad view on Americans for some time. As far as I know, this did not occur until George Bush took office. Not immediately of course, but after 9/11. The way in which Bush handled our "war on terrorism" was our undoing in the eyes of Europeans and the like. So this is when it hit me..... This speech he's given was an attempt to reconnect with Europe, and as rocky as our relations have been, he made it seem possible that we could work together to acheive this aim. To have that respect back that we used to have has been made a priority in his book and this is good news. McCain says he would much rather make a speech like that after being elected. Why? Obama has already shown he can swoon the American public with his gracefulness and candor. If anything, I would want my next president to be respected, cheered, and liked by more than just my fellow Americans. This is going to make relations with other foreign countries a lot easier on a broader scale, because he [Obama] has already bridged that gap. After watching different clips of the speech via Hardball, The Verdict, and Countdown, I have to admit I got a little emotional. Im not sure if it was before or after his speech but there was a point where Obama was walking by the crowd and hugging/shaking hands/having photo ops with people, and it was mass hysteria. Other than that the thing that got me was the faces of the people he walked by. Im sure some were from outside Germany, but they were all different. White, black, young, old etc. They were smiling and waving.....American flags. Some in the back were crying and I could see a younger girl in the background saying "Obama!" as he walked by. And yes I did get tearful, only because after being embarrassed on the world stage for so many years being an American outside America wasn't such a good thing. But even in Europe they see the tide turning here. They can feel it just as I can, and its got them fired up and ready to go.
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