Obama Urges Closer U.S.-Europe Ties

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by: MICHAEL CHEUNG

In one of the most theatrical events of his campaign, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama stood before a sea of 200,000 people in Berlin Thursday and called for closer ties between the United States and Europe.

Urging nations to “renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons” and to unite to defeat terrorism, Obama’s rousing speech was often interrupted by applause from the huge crowd.

“In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more — not less,” Obama told the crowd.  “Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.”

For his arrival, Obama, dressed in a business suit, walked alone around the Victory Column, a giant pillar near the center of the park that is a monument to Prussian war victories of the 19th century.

It was clear from Obama’s enthusiastic reception in Berlin that many Europeans have high hopes for him, especially here in a country that has never forgotten U.S. efforts to rebuild Europe after World War II.

Although the German media embraced Obama warmly, assumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain was quick to criticize Obama’s speech.  “I’d love to give a speech in Germany — a political speech or a speech that maybe the German people would be interested in,” McCain told a crowd in Ohio, “but I’d much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate.”

Asked on his campaign charter plane whether he drew inspiration from the famous Berlin speeches of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, Obama said: “They were presidents. I am a citizen. But obviously Berlin is representative of the extraordinary success of the post-World War II effort to bring the continent together, and bring the west together, and then later to bring the east and the west together.”

Opinion

by: MICHAEL CHEUNG

This is exactly the kind of global unity that Barack Obama will bring if he is elected to the White House.  The United States needs to gain back the world’s respect before it can succeed in the war against terror.  John McCain claims that he is an expert in foreign affairs.  But when you don’t know the difference between the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Czechslovakia, it is rather difficult to earn respect.

Some 200,000 people showed up for this rousing speech.  Barack Obama may not be particularly experienced in foreign affairs, but he has an ability John McCain sorely lacks — the ability to make others, no matter what country they come from, see what he sees, want what he wants.  This quality, perhaps, is more important than experience.

Tags: barack obama, berlin, john mccain, presidential race, tear down this wall