Campaign advisors for Barack Obama have told Der Spiegel that the presumptive Democratic candidate for US president intends to deliver a speech in Berlin on July 24. The topic of the speech – trans-atlantic relations – is welcome in Germany. But the proposed venue – the Brandenburg Gate – has sparked a controversy: Berlin’s popular mayor, Klaus Wowereit, is enthusiastic, but Angela Merkel is not pleased:
"Technically the decision lies with the Berlin Mayor, a flamboyant, openly gay Social Democrat, who quite relishes the idea of irritating the conservative Chancellor. The toing and froing between the various seats of power in Berlin is thus likely to continue until the last minute."
Merkel believes that the Brandenburg Gate, where both John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan held historic speeches, should be reserved for heads of state, and not serve to further a political campaign in the US. But not everyone in her party shares her reservations:
Ruprecht Polenz, Vorsitzender des Auswärtigen Ausschusses im Bundestag, schaltete sich in die heftige Diskussion um einen Obama-Auftritt am Brandenburger Tor ein. "Viele Deutsche wollen ihn kennen lernen, nicht nur Politiker, sondern auch die breite Öffentlichkeit", sagte der CDU-Politiker SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Wenn das an diesem Ort am besten möglich ist, habe ich damit kein Problem." (Ruprecht Polenz, chairman of the foreign relations committee in the Bundestag, jumped into the fray surrounding Obama’s appearance at the Brandenburg Gate. "Many Germans want to get to know him; not just politicians, but the public at large," the CDO politician told Der Spiegel. "If that is the best place to do this, then I don’t have a problem with it.")
According to news reports, Obama will use a German phrase in his speech : "Ich kann zuhören! / I can listen!" After the tone-deaf performances of George W. Bush over the last 8 years, these will be welcome words to the ears of many Germans.
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Die Kanzlerin spinnt. Natürlich darf der zukünftige President Obama einige Minuten seinen Kennedy am Brandenburger Tor spielen.
Not a good idea. What´s next?
McCain asking for the same or accusing us of trying to influence the US Presidential elections?
And what happens afterwards?
Any other foreign candidates who´d like to speak there? And would be angered if it weren´t allowed?
I can understand why Obama would like the “scenery”. And I can understand that Wowereit would like to be on some photographs with him. 🙂
But in this case I´d have to agree with Merkel. It´s a bad idea if we are seen as openly supporting one candidate in a democratic election in a foreign country.
Oh dear. This seems so tasteless to me. Why the Kennedy imitation, anyway?
I hope that Obama’s specialness is not all on the surface, but honestly I wonder. What do we really know about this man? At this point it seems to be all PR and moving to the right.
Maybe he wants to win. Can we ever forgive him?
But I think what he’s doing now may very well lose him the election.
It is obvious, Obama wants to seize this historical past associated with the Brandenburg Gate to imply that his bagage is the same for JFK, and falls short of a head of state as was Reagan.
Another thing not, but the propaganda cabinet Obama is proving to be very smart.
The Europeans should realize more often so that our image is used across the Atlantic, and is also good sign.
Ôo-~
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/07/a-german-take-o.html