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Obama Speaks
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to Germany on
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European Ties
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(New york times)
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BERLIN — Senator Barack Obama stood before a sea of people here Thursday evening and issued
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a call for cooperation, imploring America and Europe to bridge differences and rekindle old
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alliances in an effort to restore global stability and better confront existing and unforeseen threats.
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“If we’re honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have
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drifted apart and forgotten our shared destiny,” Mr. Obama said. “In Europe, the view that America
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is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all
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too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe’s role in
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our security and our future.”
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Pausing for a moment, the Illinois Democrat added: “Both views miss the truth.”
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Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who is on a weeklong international
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tour, delivered his address at the base of the Victory Column in the Tiergarten, a sprawling park in
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the center of the city.
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He looked out toward the Brandenburg Gate, where President Ronald Reagan implored the Soviet
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leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down that wall” and end the Cold War, and spoke to crowd that
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the German News Agency DPA estimated at 200,000 people.
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“I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before,” Mr. Obama said, confronting
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the delicate issue of campaigning abroad. “Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for president,
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but as a citizen — a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.”
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Mr. Obama, as he visits the Middle East and Western Europe, is eager to prove himself on a
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worldwide stage as a potential leader of the United States, whose image has become tarnished in
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Europe, largely because of its decision to go to war with Iraq.
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He seemed intent on trying to achieve two goals — healing the wounds left by the Bush
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administration, which dismissed the “old Europe,” and present an image to voters at home as a
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president whom the world could embrace.
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“No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone,” Mr. Obama
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said. “None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them.”
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Linking the battle against terrorism to the struggle of the cold war that defined this city for decades,
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Mr. Obama spoke directly on the need for more soldiers to fight in Afghanistan, a politically
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unpopular stance in Germany.
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“The Afghan people need our troops and your troops, our support and your support to defeat the
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Taliban and al Qaeda,” Mr. Obama said.
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Mr. Obama was warmly embraced by the German press, which frequently referred to his aura, or as
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the newspaper Bild put it in Thursday’s paper, the “political pop star.”
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Manfred Krause, 65, a retired citizen of the former East Germany, said Mr. Obama’s address
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brought back memories of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s quieter visit to East Berlin in 1964,
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when he was a student. “I thought, here is someone coming from the same place,” he said.
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Yet while Mr. Obama was addressing the sprawling crowd, the most important audience was
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watching in the United States. The television images, which showed Germans and others waving
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American flags, created a curious tableau that Republicans in the United States sought to seize on.
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In his 30-minute address, Mr. Obama did not overtly criticize President Bush or his presumptive
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Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, but he did offer a gentle dose of criticism of his own
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nation.
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“I know my country has not perfected itself,” he said. “We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there
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are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions. But I also
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know how much I love America.”
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On the other side of the Atlantic, where Mr. McCain campaigned in the nation’s midsection on
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Thursday, he criticized Mr. Obama for traveling to Germany to deliver the address.
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“I’d love to give a speech in Germany — a political speech or a speech that maybe the German
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people would be interested in,” he told a crowd in Ohio, “but I’d much prefer to do it as president of
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the United States rather than as a candidate.”
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The response to Mr. Obama has been so warm that the coordinator for German-American relations
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in the foreign ministry here, Karsten D. Voigt, has tried to scale back expectations. He reminded
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Germans in interview after interview that Mr. Obama would have to support positions unpopular
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with the German public, like a stronger presence engaged in more fighting for the Bundeswehr, the
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German army, in Afghanistan.
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First and foremost, Mr. Obama is popular because he is not Mr. Bush, who is wildly unpopular in
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Germany. Asked why they support Mr. Obama, his opposition to the Iraq War usually comes up
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first.
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The excitement in Germany over Mr. Obama has grown steadily through the Democratic primaries,
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reaching its peak with his address here Thursday in the Tiergarten, Berlin’s equivalent of Central
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Park. Mr. Obama’s photograph was splashed across the front pages of German newspapers. Leaflets
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advertising the speech with quotes from President John F. Kennedy — who came to this divided
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city at the height of the Cold War and urged those who did not believe in freedom: “Let them come
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to Berlin” — fluttered in the street.
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“Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe,” Mr. Obama said. “No doubt,
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there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us
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together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century,
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Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more — not less. Partnership and cooperation
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among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and
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advance our common humanity.
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”Before the speech, Mr. Obama met for about an hour with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the
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Federal Chancellery, followed by an afternoon session with Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
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Steinmeier.A German diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the two sides
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had agreed to keep the meeting private, said the discussions with Mrs. Merkel went very
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successfully, saying: “They quickly found themselves on the same page. It was not superficial at
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all.”
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The official said they spoke in English, and sat on a small sofa, rather than at the table, the more
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usual but also more formal setting for her discussions. The official said that after the discussion they
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went out onto Mrs. Merkel’s small balcony, and she explained the sights of the government district
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around the chancellery building, most of which was built since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
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In his speech, Mr. Obama addressed the threat of nuclear weapons, Iran and the conflict in the
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Middle East, offering no new policies, but laying out the challenges facing the United States and
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other leading nations.
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“This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East,” Mr. Obama
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said. “My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it
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must abandon its nuclear ambitions.”
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He added: “Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the
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voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words “never again” in Darfur?”
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The crowd was filled with many American citizens, including those who stood in lines to register to
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vote. But the overwhelming share was made up of German residents, who cheered when Mr.
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Obama called upon the United States to correct its deeds.Mr. Obama, who is nearing the final days
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of his international trip, has navigated a political high-wire for days as he traveled through Iraq,
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Afghanistan, Jordan and Jerusalem. From here he will travel to France and Britain before returning
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to the United States this weekend.
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