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No. 44 Has Spoken
And the early reviews have come in:
Anyone who saw Barack Obama at Berlin's
Siegessäule on Thursday could recognize that this man will become the
44th president of the United States. He is more than ambitious -- he
wants to lay claim to become the president of the world.
It was a ton to absorb -- and what a stupendous ride through world
history: the story of his own family, the Berlin Airlift, terrorists,
poorly secured nuclear material, the polar caps, World War II,
America's errors, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, freedom. It's amazing one
could even pack such a potpourri of issues into sentences and then
succeed in squeezing them all into the space of a speech that lasted
less than 30 minutes.
Comments (4)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,567919,00.html
July 24, 2008 7:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know about president of the world, although I think he would be up to it...
Maybe he will lead us to join the EU. But maybe that is impossible under their charter....
July 24, 2008 8:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow... Der Spiegel has a veritable boatload of coverage of Obama's visit & speech. Here's another take:
People of the World, Look at Me
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,567932,00.html
July 24, 2008 8:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Huge Crowds Left with Mixed Feelings
-snip-
Thousands of others avoided the crowds entirely, lounging picnic-like with their families in the grassy woods flanking the avenue, drinking beer and chatting through much of the speech.
Expectations for the speech were sky-high in a city that had seen several US presidents -- Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton -- deliver important speeches down through the years.
"I want to be here for our 'Ich bin ein Berliner' speech," Julie Hagedorn, 38, a Canadian living with her German husband in Berlin told SPIEGEL ONLINE before the speech. "I want to hear it with my own ears when Obama says 'Ich bin ein Europäer (I am a European)."
This sentiment of hoping that the speech would signal the beginning of a new relationship and healing process between Europe and the United States was shared by many of those in the crowd. "This is a rare event," said Alla Samkova, 68, a native Muscovite who has been living in Berlin for 45 years. "In the end it doesn't matter what he says; it only matters that he's here."
Still others -- many others -- expressed joy at being able to get a far-off glimpse of the man promising so much change for the US and the world. "To put it cynically, it's always nice to see a country getting rid of its own junta, even if it elected it itself," said Carston Winkler, 43, a native Berliner working in the solar industry. "I'm here to show support for the man who might make that happen."
Children were also a large part of the crowd, sitting on shoulders or being wheeled slowly -- and often impatiently -- through the large masses of people. Patricia Gusovius, 48, of Berlin, brought her 5-year-old daughter Hanan to the speech particularly because of Obama's background. "I'm here because my daughter has an Egyptian father and I'm German," Gusovius told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "She can see that Obama is a mix, like her. Mixed race families have a hard time in Western culture, and he can be her role model." After excitedly awaiting her turn to speak, Hanan added: "We spent a whole day at school learning about him."
-snip-
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,567922,00.html
July 24, 2008 11:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
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