Obama's speech in front of the Victory Column in Berlin was an unqualified campaign success. Check the photos in Al Rodgers's diary, here is one again (photo from SPIEGEL).
This diary however is meant as a deeper look at the event and its significance. Some of the points covered will be critical, others will be further appraisal:
- Ridiculous reaction from the McCain campaign
- Symbolism of the place
- The crowds and their reaction
- An analysis in German media
- European blacks watching
- Meeting Merkel, the wily tactician
- Meeting the gay mayor
Ridiculous reaction from the McCain campaign
This is better to bring just in pictures. The McCain campaign had no better idea than find the nearest German Olde' Shoppe', and put Saint John in front... (photo via Berliner Morgenpost):
But, even more symbolic of McCain's campaign is this counter-protester at Obama's Berlin event (photo from SPIEGEL):
(Come on, this guy must have been paid by the Obama Campaign :-) Or, maybe he is a German Left Party member on a double-cross mission :-) )
Symbolism of the place
The talk was all about a place symbolising freedom. I note this rhetoric attracts far away, but sounds more tired in Germany, even while the originally intended site, the Brandenburg Gate would have fitted the spirit. Unfortunately, the Victory Column doesn't (photo from SPIEGEL).
Most people outside Germany and France (and maybe even in Germany and France) may only know the Victory Column as a spectacular backdrop in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, and U2's video for Stay (Faraway, So Close!). But the Victory Column was built after the Prussia-led German forces invaded and defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The monument was re-sited and upgraded during WWII by Hitler's chief architect. In other words: in reality, it is a symbol of aggressive militarism. Some German commentators did note the unfortunate choice, even if most of the media gave a pass on this.
However, Obama himself (or his speechwriters) dealt with this by adding a nice rhetorical connection in his speech:
After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace.
The crowds and their reaction
The Obama campaign achieved its main goal: the media the world over is talking about cheering German crowds giving an enthusiastic welcome. On a closer look however, we get a more differentiated picture. It won't become a big problem for Obama, but it is worth to recognise for his supporters when thinking about international support.
According to German blogger Bernhard, who runs Moon of Alabama, a spinoff of Billmon's sadly defunct Whiskey Bar, and watched:
About 70,000 people max. A quarter of them U.S. folks.
Other estimates run up to 250,000. At any rate, the cheering was as much American fans abroad as foreign fans. About the reception on the spot, Bernhard writes:
Started with good touch on the Berlin wall and the 1948 air lift to walls in the rest of the world.
Said 9/11 terrorists trained in Hamburg, Kandahar and Karachi?
Karachi??? Pakistan, watch out! And what about the flight training they got in the U.S.?
Obama had to say that, or else the Republoscum will spin him as weak with the pussy European allies. However, adopting certain Bushista talking points, especially one that made an issue with which Europeans have decades of experience as police matter one for the military, was not received well:
That and other "war of terror" talk by Obama did get sparse applause.
Other talk about "U.S. bases" in Germany and around the world also.
Talk about Afghanistan - applause also very low.
Obama called for a "world without nuclear weapons" - BIG applause.
Common effort against climate change - BIG applause.
(Photo from SPIEGEL)
Another German who attended wrote up his reaction in acomment to the article Obama urges global fight against terror of Britain's The Independent, reporting similar sentiments.
I just came back from hearing Obama speak near the Victory column here in Berlin. The german crowd was polite, but not enthusiastic. Obama indirectly asked for more german involvment in Afganistan which met with silence.
I can cite this particular observer also as a good example for the not necessarily positive reception of the historical allusions in Germany:
Also his going on about the airlift during the cold-war was a bit much seeing as the cold-war was as much a american made problem as it was a soviet one. This going on about the wall was also a bit much as he was not critical about the newest wall of exclusion namely the walls that the isreallis are builiding about which he said nothing.
He ends on a negative tone:
He mentioned getting rid of all atomic weapons - this after the US government is supporting a deal leading to increased Indian access to nuclear fuel could accelerate the atomic arms race with Pakistan. What the people in Berlin came to hear and expect was an apology from a high US official for the last years of the stupid and criminal Bush gang. What it got instead was a milk-toast speach saying nothing.
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Posted by Wim from Berlin<span> |</span> 24.07.08, 20:57 GMT
Bernhard also ends with a dissonant note; but there'll be some explanation in the next section:
Some phrases that sound wired for Germans:
"sacrifice"
"struggle for freedom"
"remake the world"
These are empty phrases for Germans. Unlike in the U.S. there is no positive associations with these.
I close this part by noting that at least one pro-American German politician predicted such reactions in advance. Karl-Theodor Freiherr, foreign policy expert of the conservative CSU (the Bavarian sister party of Merkel's CDU) said (here speaking in party-political terms):
Die "neue Begeisterung" der SPD für die USA sei an sich "begrüßenswert", sagte er. Allerdings bleibe abzuwarten, ob sich der "Enthusiasmus erschöpft, wenn Senator Obama in dieser oder einer künftigen Rede einen höheren deutschen Beitrag in internationalen Operationen einfordert". | | The "new enthusiasm" of the SPD [Social Democrats] for the USA was "welcome" in itself, he said. However, it remains to be seen whether the "enthusiasm will exhausted, should Senator Obama demand a higher German contribution to international operations in this or any future speech". |
An analysis in German media
Now the reception of the speech was definitely positive in the German MSM (which cheerleads Obamamania in Germany). But the differential reception of Obama's different lines was noted even there:
Er findet neue Töne zum Klimawandel, den die aktuelle US-Regierung bis vor kurzem noch geleugnet hat. "Wir müssen sicherstellen, dass alle Nationen der Welt - einschließlich meiner eigenen - den Ausstoß an Treibhausgasen mit jener Ernsthaftigkeit reduzieren, wie es Ihr Land tut." Da gibt es mit den meisten Applaus während der gesamten Rede. | | He finds a new tone on climate change, which was denied by the current U.S. government until recently. "We must ensure that all nations of the world - including my own - reduce the emission of greenhouse gases with the seriousness with which your country is doing it." There is the most applause throughout the speech. |
Doch dann spricht er sie aus, die erwarteten Forderungen... | | But then he spells them out, the expected demands... |
...Wie angespannt die Beziehungen geworden sind, zeigt sich daran, dass eigentlich ganz selbstverständliche Sätze am meisten Beifall bekommen. Sätze wie: "Die Mauern zwischen armen und reichen Ländern müssen fallen. Die Mauern zwischen Christen, Muslimen und Juden müssen fallen." Oder ganz schlicht: "Wir Amerikaner lehnen Folter ab." Da gibt es viel Applaus. | | ... How tense relations have become, is demonstrated by the fact that sentences that should actually be quite self-evident receive the most applause. Sentences like: "The walls between poor and rich countries must fall. The walls between Christians, Muslims and Jews must fall." Or, quite simply: "We Americans are opposed to torture." For that there is much applause. |
The above quote is from an op-ed by Gregor Peter Schmitz for SPIEGEL ONLINE (DER SPIEGEL is Germany's prime weekly political magazine, and its website is the most-frequented German news site) titled Völker der Welt, schaut auf mich ( = People of the World, Look At Me). Analysing the speech, Schmitz recognises Obama taking four successive poses:
- The restrained Obama: some words of modesty, also in defense against accusations during the pre-speech controversy, and words about Berlin.
- The Transatlantic Bridge-Builder: words about re-starting the alliance between the USA and Europe, with heavy praise for the hosts.
- The crafty US campaigner: his advisors feared that Obama would be perceived as 'too European' (speak: a weakling) at home if he gives too many concessions, so Obama "mixes in passages which could have easily been spoken by the current US President George W. Bush, too" - and even while he mentions European themes like nuclear weapons and climate change, he them makes demands towards the allies (see above).
- The Save-The-World Rhetorician: the speaker of great words, the Redeemer.
What all this boils down is that Obama's big Berlin speech was more for the home (US) consumption than for his European audience. Schmitz ends his article with a symbolic moment that shows this:
Während Obama die letzten Sätze seines Manuskriptes in die Menge ruft, holen seine Mitarbeiter schon den mitreisenden Pressetross von der Gästetribüne. Die Journalisten sollen noch kurz mit Obama sprechen dürfen. Es sind nur Reporter aus den USA, 40 an der Zahl. CNN, "New York Times", "Newsweek", "Chicago Sun-Times". Ausländische Presse ist ausdrücklich nicht erwünscht. Die USA waren die Zielgruppe. | | While Obama shouts the last sentences of his manuscript into the crowd, his staff is already getting the accompanying press corps off the guest tribune. The journalists are to be allowed to speak briefly with Obama. They are only reporters from the USA, numbering 40. CNN, New York Times, Newsweek, Chicago Sun-Times. Foreign press is explicitly not welcome. The USA was the target group. |
Sorry, Berlin. | | Sorry, Berlin. |
European blacks watching
Much has been written about Obama's importance for the black community in the USA. But what about blacks in Europe? Who are immigrants or descendants of immigrants rather than descendants of locally held slaves (and don't form a community)?
For non-Americans with a different skin colour, Obama has a special significance: the chance that the head of the strongest white-mens'-country that is lording over the world with all the weak states of coloured people may get a non-white leader. Some believe this will directly impact US policy, others see the primacy of a strong symbolism. There is also the circumstance that Obama's background as son of an immigrant from Kenya may make European blacks think that by his life's experience, Obama is even closer to them than US blacks. Of course, views aren't necessarily positive, Obama may also be identified more with the US beltway elite than his background.
At any rate, I noticed lots of blacks on the photos and TV images of the crowds at Obama's speech, and though it is hard to tell on clothing alone, it seemed to me that not just Americans but German blacks and immigrants were among them.
Meeting Merkel, the wily tactician
You may be aware that there was big controversy in Germany over the site of the speech. In short: after complaints from Bush's staff at the G8 meeting in Japan, Merkel murmured about a simple campaign speech at such a symbolic place as the Brandenburg Gate. Now there were much lesser speeches at the Brandenburg Gate, what's more, during its renewal it bore a commercial advertisement; but some in Merkel's party complained even louder. Then, even though Berlin's Social Democrat major (whose decision it is) stuck to his guns, Obama's campaign relented and moved the location a mile to the West.
I can reassure you that Merkel's role in all this was entirely tactical. In part she didn't want more conflict with the incumbent. More importantly, she had domestic party-politics reasons. On one hand, she tried to stop her coalition partners from capitalising on Obama's visit.
On the other hand, even if Merkel is a centrist, and even if the majority of even her party's voters is pro-Obama, let's not forget that she heads Europe's largest conservative party. So she had to assuage the hardliners in the party, who are more attached to the ideological brothers across the pond.
However, by meeting Obama before his speech, I think Merkel showed her true colours. (Photo from SPIEGEL)
Meeting the gay mayor
I wonder if his other meeting much-covered in German media will play any role in the US campaign. (Photo again from SPIEGEL)
The man who had the right to approve Obama's speech, and who repeatedly maintained that he'd welcome if he speaks in front of the Brandenburg Gate, is Berlin's popular mayor, Klaus Wowereit.
Wowereit, nickname Wowi, is another expert tactician, and considered one of the top candidates as a future Chancellor of Germany; but he made his name not with these talents but a spectacular coming-out. Back in 2001, he finished his first big campaign speech before delegates saying: "...and by the way: I am gay." Then, seeing the puzzled faces, he famously added: "...und das ist auch gut so." (c. = and that's fine that way, too). This became an instant catchphrase used to this day.
Being gay (and in general, politicians' private life) is not a big thing in Germany, and certainly not after Wowi's coming-out. But I wonder if some McCain surrogates would want to use this meeting for some negative campaigning aimed at evangelical voters...
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(Some words in closing: as background on myself, I am from Hungary but have lived in Germany, and I am a frontpager at Jerome a Paris's group blog European Tribune, and I have to thank the readers there for bringing many bits of the above to my attention.)