His staff has been watching Jon Stewart. In a brilliant counter-programming move, they had John McCain satirizing Obama's Berlin speech today with a standup in front of Schmidt's Sausage Haus in Columbus, Ohio.
Instead of a cheering, flag-waving crowd of 200,000, they had McCain meeting with half a dozen small business owners for a meal of bratwurst to complain, "I'd love to give a speech in Germany. But I'd much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for president."
Lots of laughs and a delicious satire, but if he doesn't make it to the White House, McCain has even less chance of replacing John Oliver on the Daily Show.
Showing posts with label Berlin speech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Berlin speech. Show all posts
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Breaking Down Invisible Walls
Barack Obama in Berlin today talked about tearing down walls that separate nations, just as John F. Kennedy did in 1963 and Ronald Reagan in 1987, but there were differences. JFK and Reagan wanted to break down the physical barrier that symbolized a Cold War. Obama was offering himself as the symbol of a new century without political, ideological or psychological walls between people.
"I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city," he told a crowd of an estimated 200,000 Germans before recalling the common struggles during the Berlin Airlift and exhorting them to a comparable effort against terrorism, tyranny, nuclear weapons, poverty and AIDS and other threats to freedom today.
"Freedom is indivisible," JFK had said, "and when one man is enslaved, all are not free." Reagan had echoed him, proclaiming, "We in the West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safe, freer world."
Today, Obama acknowledged that "In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future.
"Both views miss the truth--that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe."
As the potential next American President, who in earlier times was considered the Leader of the Free World, Obama offered his prescription for a common future:
"Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more--not less.
"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.
"That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another."
In the coming months, the Presidential campaign will be a crucial test of how willing Americans are to break down our own long-standing barriers between people.
"I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city," he told a crowd of an estimated 200,000 Germans before recalling the common struggles during the Berlin Airlift and exhorting them to a comparable effort against terrorism, tyranny, nuclear weapons, poverty and AIDS and other threats to freedom today.
"Freedom is indivisible," JFK had said, "and when one man is enslaved, all are not free." Reagan had echoed him, proclaiming, "We in the West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safe, freer world."
Today, Obama acknowledged that "In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future.
"Both views miss the truth--that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe."
As the potential next American President, who in earlier times was considered the Leader of the Free World, Obama offered his prescription for a common future:
"Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more--not less.
"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.
"That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another."
In the coming months, the Presidential campaign will be a crucial test of how willing Americans are to break down our own long-standing barriers between people.
Repairing America's Image
The memory of angry millions in European streets five years ago to protest the imminent US attack on Iraq will be the background for Barack Obama's visit and speech in Berlin today that are expected to draw huge cheering crowds.
The contrast underscores one of Obama's main missions in seeking the presidency--to restore worldwide respect, if not admiration, for American ideals after eight years of Bush-Cheney arrogance that have sown mistrust, if not hatred.
Leaving Israel, Obama said his speech would be a "substantive articulation" of the relationship he wanted to see between the US and Europe.
"I think the world is keenly interested in this election and I think they're hungry for a sense of where America is going," he told reporters on his flight from Tel Aviv.
As John McCain keeps hammering at Obama with a rewriting of the Iraq disaster, the man who almost surely will have to repair the damage is making a start today on the other side of the Atlantic.
The contrast underscores one of Obama's main missions in seeking the presidency--to restore worldwide respect, if not admiration, for American ideals after eight years of Bush-Cheney arrogance that have sown mistrust, if not hatred.
Leaving Israel, Obama said his speech would be a "substantive articulation" of the relationship he wanted to see between the US and Europe.
"I think the world is keenly interested in this election and I think they're hungry for a sense of where America is going," he told reporters on his flight from Tel Aviv.
As John McCain keeps hammering at Obama with a rewriting of the Iraq disaster, the man who almost surely will have to repair the damage is making a start today on the other side of the Atlantic.
Friday, July 18, 2008
"Ich bin ein Berliner, Folks"
The vacillation over a speech site for Barack Obama evokes memories of previous fusses raised by American presidents in post-World War II Germany.
The Obama campaign has been searching for a suitable venue since Chancellor Angela Merkel deemed the Brandenburg Gate unseemly for a speech by a political candidate, and now the Victory Column less than a mile away seems to be the choice.
In 1985, there was a flap over President Reagan's visit to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to lay a wreath at the graves of German soldiers, including SS troops, over the protests of Elie Wiesel and other Holocaust survivors.
Before that, in 1963, President Kennedy made a stirring speech with the memorable line "Ich bin ein Berliner," followed by a semantic fuss about its translation, indicating that JFK may have unintentionally proclaimed himself, not a citizen of Berlin, but a jelly doughnut.
Whatever Obama decides to say to his German audience, he would be well-advised not to refer to John McCain as a hero, risking the possibility he might be understood to be calling the Republican candidate a big, fat overstuffed sandwich.
In languages as well as politics, it's easy for much to be lost in translation.
The Obama campaign has been searching for a suitable venue since Chancellor Angela Merkel deemed the Brandenburg Gate unseemly for a speech by a political candidate, and now the Victory Column less than a mile away seems to be the choice.
In 1985, there was a flap over President Reagan's visit to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to lay a wreath at the graves of German soldiers, including SS troops, over the protests of Elie Wiesel and other Holocaust survivors.
Before that, in 1963, President Kennedy made a stirring speech with the memorable line "Ich bin ein Berliner," followed by a semantic fuss about its translation, indicating that JFK may have unintentionally proclaimed himself, not a citizen of Berlin, but a jelly doughnut.
Whatever Obama decides to say to his German audience, he would be well-advised not to refer to John McCain as a hero, risking the possibility he might be understood to be calling the Republican candidate a big, fat overstuffed sandwich.
In languages as well as politics, it's easy for much to be lost in translation.
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