What Will Barack Obama Say in Berlin?

After Barack Obama won the Iowa Caucuses last January, a New York Times blog titled, "Germany's Got a Crush on Obama," reported that "The Berliner Morgenpost over the weekend ran with the headline, 'The New Kennedy.' The tabloid Bild declared, 'This Black American has become the new Kennedy!' And the headline for the editorial in the Frankfurter Rundschau read simply, 'Lincoln, Kennedy, Obama.'"

The association of Obama with Kennedy was due, in large part, to their shared oratorical talents. Now, that association becomes even more pertinent. On June 26, 1963, Kennedy delivered his historic "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. On Thursday, 45 years and one month later, Obama will culminate his whirlwind overseas tour with a stop in Berlin to deliver his own high profile speech.

Given a recent poll that the German public prefers Obama to John McCain by 67 percent to 6 percent, the Illinois Senator is very likely to be well-received. In fact, some forecasts estimate that the crowd for his speech in front of a victory column known as the Siegessäule is expected to top 100,000.

What will he say?

The conservative columnist, William Kristol, sees parallels in the state of the world in 1963 when Kennedy was confronted with the threat of Communism, and in 2008, when Obama is faced with the threat of terrorism. Kristol anticipates that Obama, like Kennedy before him, will sound a rallying cry for freedom in his Berlin speech.

I see parallels in their speaking styles; particularly in their use of a rhetorical device called, anaphora, which is defined by the excellent web site http://www.americanrhetoric.com/ as "a figure of repetition that occurs when the first word or set of words in one sentence, clause, or phrase is/are repeated at or very near the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases; repetition of the initial word(s) over successive phrases or clauses."

Kennedy's most famous use of anaphora came in his January 1961 Inaugural Address when he used the word "ask" five times within three sentences. What is not as famous is that, in that same 14-minute speech, Kennedy used the word "let" 16 times.

Two and half years later, Kennedy returned to the repetition of "let" in his Berlin speech: "There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say -- There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say, in Europe and elsewhere, we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Let them come to Berlin."

Barack Obama set his own precedent for anaphora in his landmark 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston where he had a string of five consecutive uses of "if." "America! Tonight, if you feel the same energy that I do, if you feel the same urgency that I do, if you feel the same passion that I do, if you feel the same hopefulness that I do -- if we do what we must do, then I have no doubt that all across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as president."

In his March, 2008 speech on race in Philadelphia, Obama used "this time" six times starting with: "This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native-American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem..."

What will he say this time in Berlin?

You'll find more about Barack Obama's speaking style in my forthcoming book, The Power Presenter, to be published by John Wiley and Sons in February, 2009.

Comments

[fleetwell]

people are looking forward to the speech but some are worried he'll push for more German involvement in Afghanistan. either way there's a buzz in the air and England and France are a touch jealous..

[fleetwell]

I'm a journalist based in Berlin and I'm writing about the Obama visit. Check out my profile for a link to the blog. I'll have more posts up once the man does his talking tomorrow!

cheers,

stefan

innocent-abroad hosted on blogspot

[IntellectuallyHonest]

I agree with BaltimoreSteve. He will probably say something very smart.

[BaltimoreSteve]

He will say that America is about to end the Imperial Presidency.

[CologneCitizen]

German magazine "Der Spiegel" wrote today he will speak about the transatlantic relations between the USA and Europe. He will start around 19:00 pm German Time which is 1:pm Eastern Time and he will speak for an hour. His entourage has forbidden all signs or banners in the audience. There will be strict controls at the gates. Apart from many US citizens living abroad, the audience will be mainly German. If they hold anti-Bush or anti-McCain signs up, the media in the US will tear Obama apart.

[SeanGardner]

Thanks for the info.... I'll try and look it up online...thanks!

[SeanGardner]

I too, can't wait to hear what he is going to say in Germany.

Don't know what phaseology he'll be using, or what type of allegories and metaphors he'll be employing in his speech, but I know it will be good.

Tonight, Katie Couric had a interview in Jordan with Obama where she said: "Senator Obama, a million people will be coming to hear you speak in Germany. Can you see how off putting that is to the unemployed guy in Columbus (Ohio)?"

I don't know about Katie Couric, but like me, the unemployed guy from Columbus will likely be fixed with amazement that Obama can inspire millions to come out and see him in Germany (CHEERING), and that our sitting president, Bush, can also inspire millions to come out and see him in Germany (JEERING).

ALSO...congrats Mr. Weisman on your book on Obama. I have one on him coming out late next year as well.

[DasBoot]

I would advise anybody to go back and read the speeches by JFK, as well as the ones by his brother Robert. They were beautifully crafted, in the old tradition of rhetoric, filled with quotes by the great minds of world history. Ted Sorenson is probably the greatest American speech writer of the 20th century.

What a lost art. Maybe Obama will bring back some of that culture.

[Pappa]

I was a GI in Berlin when Kennedy spoke at the City Hall. I did not see the spech (on gard duty), but I can say that you could not buy a Kennedy photograph, American flag, or any thing related to him. They were all sold out. Frankly, the Germans treated him like a rock star. Germans were delighted in his visit. One more though that was never mentioned, he was very humble during his visit.. I hop Obama realize this is necessary if he want to impress both sides of the sea. If he is, all America will benefit from his visit.

[speeddeeps]

Frankfurter Rundschau '''Lincoln, Kennedy, Obama.'"

[Gma11]

I am SO looking forward to this speech!! Does anyone know just when it is going to take place -Thursday morning I've heard - but in Europe? And what time that would be in the U.S.?

[pecoes]

I'm not sure if Obama's schedule is final, but der Tagesspiegel claims the ARD (public tv) will broadcast the speech live at 19.00 CET:

http://www.tagesspiegel.de/medien-news/;art15532,2577575

That would be 13.00 EST...

[PerryWhite]

He'll say whatever David Axelrod has written for the prompter.

[lboucher]

Hopefully not another Gaffe like "Germany is strong friends with Germans".

[BeeOplentee]

As long as he doesn't announce that he's a cream puff like JFK did!

[anon004]

Our friends in Berlin said that he said was a donut, but, same principle.

[DasBoot]

Sort of. Germans have many words for the jelly-filled doughnut without a whole (that's essentially what we are talking about here), depending on local dialect. In Berlin, the "Berliner" is actually called Pfannkuchen, so technically JFK did not commit a gaffe there.

[CologneCitizen]

For your info: a Berliner is indeed a little cake filled with jelly. What he meant though was completely different. ( And no German got that wrong ) In his speech he pointed out: as Berlin is part of the free world, and he (Kennedy) is part of the same world, he said he can take pride in these words: Ich bin ein Berliner. Absolutely nobody associated this with a piece of cake.

[Henry]

Majic words to put a charisma spell on the public? It really has to amount to more than that. I know, I know, it's all about celebrity and deity. I think the best thing about Barak is that he druther it is was otherwise. It's going to be about the cabinet. I hope he's not going to be another "b" rated performer like little George.