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| quote: | back from obama speech in berlin -- part 1
By Caliu - July 24, 2008, 4:41PM
There has already been excellent commentary by Greg Sargent on the content of Obama's speech on TPM, so let me give you all the on the ground view.
The security was intense, but the Germans managed to secure the area around Obama's podium and checked the bags and possessions of 200,000 (police estimates) of the attendees. We were asked to turn on digital cameras and telephones and the woman in front of me was asked to dispose of a tiny aerosol bottle. We waited forty minutes pressed against a fence and other people before we got through.
Berlin's population turned out in all of its diversity -- punks with pink mohawks, a Turkish family with veiled mother, business women with four inch heels, and a large number of English speaking Africans --Kenyans???
Once inside the security lines, there was beer for sale, warm up bands and schnell imbiss, or all sorts of grilled meats sold from tents. Berliners know, after the World Cup 2006, how to throw an outdoor party at the drop of a hat.
Unfortunately, The Rolling Stones' old favorite, Sympathy for the Devil was played, but no one seemed to notice because Europeans don't pay attention to English lyrics.
Obama appeared at 7:15, and was eloquent, comfortable and relaxed. He was restrained in his address of the crowd, and emphasized the kind of liberal internationalism that made me think of the very best moments of the Cold War. He referenced the Berlin airlift a number of times, drawing a reaction from the older members of a very young crowd who had no particular memory of that moment in Berlin history. Obama, however insisted upon invoking that sense of place and history -- and the popular reaction was, I would say, hesitant, but positive. Perhaps it was because he gave the speech in English with no German translation...although it did seem as if everyone did speak a form of Euro-English or other. The crowd cheered his statements about cooperation and responsibility in dealing with situations like Darfur and global warming and were less enthusiastic when Obama invoked NATO and the war on terrorism.
As the gigantic crowd broke up, one Scandinavian asked another behind me, "What did you think?" and the other replied, "He was very American." I couldn't help myself and said, "That is how we are, we Americans, we're very American." He laughed and said, "I guess the Swedish are very Swedish!" If the Europeans expected Obama to be European, then they must have been disappointed, but what he was, was something else, -- a poised, level-headed, powerful orator...an American, who could evoke his African roots in the same breath as his love of country.
My son, who was a real hero and waited through the steam security line, and then for two hours for Obama to finally speak, asked me why he didn't say, "Yes, we can!"I tried to explain that that was something that he did in America, and that the Germans didn't really understand the chant, and that that idea of infinite possibility and optimism didn't translate into other languages.
I would say, if there hadn't been two hundred thousand spectators that the Germans are reserved in their curiosity about and enthusiasm for this American, who is after all, so very American, but in this extremely international and cosmopolitan city, the very presence of African housewives, pressed against environmental activists, pressed again young professionals and the occasional football hooligan just goes to show how deeply Obama has resonated with all sorts of people, who find in his very public success as a US presidential candidate grounds for dreams of a different world. In that sense, Obama brought together one of the most diverse crowds I've ever seen in Europe and in his very presence at the foot of a monument whose historical significance he did not fail to cite, he is the very embodiment of that idea we call the American Dream. And in that sense, yes he can inspire us to imagine that we can be dreamers and thinkers, immigrants and fighters for social justice, black and white, Americans and Germans, looking for that critical slice of common ground that we have taken for granted and given up on....
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http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.co...ech-in-berl.php
An interesting first-hand account with some fairly objective observations as well.
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