Obama's Victory Speech in Berlin

It's official: Sen. Barack Obama will speak in Berlin before the Victory Column in the Tiergarten with the Brandenburg Gate just down the road. So much for the controversy swirling around the prospect of Obama speaking at the Brandenburg Gate (Charles Krauthammer has an op-ed pasting Obama for what he deems his dangerous hubris in today's Washington Post). The Victory Column opened in 1873 -- you can walk up inside to the top for a splendid view of Berlin -- to commemorate Germany's triumph over Denmark. Things soon went awry, as the impetuous young Kaiser Wilhelm tried to outdo his old man and launched a catastrophic preventive war in 1914. Sound familiar? Bush has more in common with the Kaiser than you might think.

Obama's visit will highlight a modern, more enlightened Germany. Today it's Germany that's offering lessons in morality to a United States that has gone astray. But some thing remain the same -- beer and sausages remain a staple of the German diet. Given the difficulties Obama has had in the United States with quaffing beer and hanging out with the locals, his greatest problem in Deutschland may be dealing with the local cuisine.

Still, Obama is wildly popular in Germany and any culinary transgressions are likely to be forgiven. He offers a chance to tip the beauty contest scales in America's favor again. Perhaps Obama's appearance at the Victory Column even provides a premonition of his own victory in November?

Comments

[casey70]

I hope this goes well and the speech is appropriate and not to over the top; they have done well so far with speeches so they should be on target. He just can't ask for to much from the europeans or sound like he is the presumptive President.

He will be our next President, but it is not November yet...

Obama/? 08'

[Joseph A. Palermo - Huffpost Blogger]

Let's hope that Krauthammer's days as an influential pundit are numbered, along with William Kristol -- they should be relegated to the ash bin of punditry.

[marymansour]

"Ich bin ein Berliner" spoke JFK in his famous German speech. I am so thrillled. I never thought this wonderful moment could be relived. I can die happy now.

[DRaymond]

No matter where it is this is going to be an amazing thing. How many times has Dubya appeared in a public setting overseas...or even in the US? He never leaves the bubble of his security convoy while blocks away crows of protestors vent their hatred.

Kennedy was greeted with cheers in Berlin, So was Reagan. Bush is afraid to leave the armored limo.

It is going to be great seeing an American politician greeted enthusiastically by world crowds.

(Obama should do something bold like do the first minute of the speech in German)

[SEQUOIABISON]

"Ich bin ein Berliner" The comparisons will hopefully propel him into the white house.

[realtalk]

Obama IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR NAMING THE VENUE, Obama was INVITED to Germany, he was INVITED to speak in German, and it is the German officials that told Obama the venue that he was going to speak at.

Obama is there at Germany's invitation, it is the German officials who picked the site.

You reporters need to get a life!! Or if you are so determined to go and blame someone, go blame the the Germans for giving their building the names they do!

[Marlyn]

Good move. I was dreading an appearance at the Brandenburg Gate, but this is fine.

[Doofus]

"Someone told me it's all happening at the Zoo. I do believe it. I do believe it's true."

(That's what the 'Tiergarten' is.)

[DarthVector]

It's such a gas!

[sparkandy]

Hope he eats broetchen (I don't have an umlaut on this keyboard). It's the best bread in the world.

[lboucher]

A traveling salesman knocks on the door of a farmhouse, and much to his surprise, Barack Obama answers the door. The salesman says, "I was expecting the farmer's daughter." Barack Obama replies, "She's not here. The farm was foreclosed on because of subprime loans that are making a mockery of the American Dream."

A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Why the long face?" Barack Obama replies, "His jockey just lost his health insurance, which should be the right of all Americans."

[Marlyn]

2 good ones. thanks.

[Doofus]

Jeez, more satire already, this time from right here on the HuffPost.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/obama-releases-list-of-ap_b_112837.html

'Obama Releases List of Approved Jokes About Himself'

[Boadicea]

Obama is wildly popular everywhere.

This world is crying out for some pragmatic, common-sense based leadership. After hundreds of years of religious and ideological wars, it's refreshing to find leadership that draws good ideas from wherever they can be found, that rejects bad ideas no matter how close to home they originate. Leadership that emphasizes what we have in common instead of what we differ about. Leadership that understands compromise not as weakness, but as a necessity for peaceful living. Leadership that recognizes the global interconnectness that will now forever define the planet.

It amazes and delights me that our youth are leading this common sense, pragmatic effort to focus of the real and pressing challenges we face, and set aside the ideological fighting. Bravo, youth!

[GZLives]

Agreed with the home run analogy only I'd say its more like a Grand Slam.
This will be an uber inspirational and historical event for the world to see on so many levels and put America back where it belongs.

Our greatness as a country is our ability to continuously reinvent ourselves. America needs to remind the world that here we are of many ... Obama is E Pluribus Unum

[ObamAtomic]

Right wings regret that McCain challenge Obama to travel to foreign lands,
people around the world will compare the huge difference between the two candidates.
Home run for Obama ,game over.

[BobsNotWorking]

"Bush has more in common with the Kaiser than you might think."

He also has more in common with Hitler than you might think. After all, his grandfather was banker to the German industrialist who bankrolled the Nazis.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

[mhopgood123]

Ich liebe Berlin!!!! Berlin is the coolest townn. It is hip and trendy and at the vanguard of intellectual thinking. The Berliners will love Obama and he will be one of them.

[bodo]

The background is immaterial since the film crews can roam all over the city for background material. What Obama needed was a wide open space. The space before the Victory Column is best known to young people for mass rock concerts including the hugely popular annual love fest.