Berliners welcome Obama as they did JFK | csmonitor.com
It’s amazing, Obama like JFK is breath of fresh air. Kennedy, when he ran for president and eventually won, was one of the youngest presidents ever and he was the first Catholic. Obama, if elected, will also be one of the youngest and the first Black man to be president. On his world tour, Obama’s stop in Berlin shows much more significance to me than any other.
Berlin, which is the capital of Germany, is the center of Europe and a hot bed of Politics and culture. One must visit the city to fully experience the greatness that is Berlin. The city was also the capital of one of the worst, most horrific regimes ever - the Nazis.
In my opinion, Obama’s visit, as the presumptive Democratic candidate for president of the United States, has much more meeting than the visit made by JFK, because of Germany’s spotted past. The fact that Obama is Black - different from the white, blond hair, blue eyed Aryan stereo-type favored by the Nazis - is very significant. I’m sure there are some Germans who don’t like Obama because he’s black, but the fact that a country like Germany, which has made a big turn around in the way of racial relations, welcomes Obama is really meaningful.
Americans should look at Obama’s welcome in Berlin as a model for change and how to welcome it instead of fearing it.
Obama is not only the US’ chance for change, but the World’s as well.
Berlin - The centerpiece of Barack Obama’s overseas tour comes Thursday in Berlin when the Democratic presidential candidate gives the only public foreign policy speech of his trip to an Obama-mad crowd of Germans who see him as another John F. Kennedy. He’s in a country and a continent making no secret it is ready for change.
“Germans have a great desire to see this as a historic moment,” says Bastian Hermisson of the Heinrich Boll Foundation, who estimates that 100,000 will turn out for the speech. “His message that people can hope the world can change for the better – that resonates. The excitement is a sign that we still feel the US is a relevant force, an influence for better or worse.”
On his much-scrutinized world jaunt to listen and learn, the Illinois senator is visiting a city at the heart of America’s traditional alliance after visits to Afghanistan and Iraq, where the US-Europe relationship is most at risk for reasons of war, oil, and security.
Berlin, twice rebuilt in the 20th century, has symbolic significance, experts say – both for Europe’s past and its future. Germany is regarded as the political epicenter of Europe, strategically located between East and West. America may cherish its relations with Paris and London, where Obama travels next, but to move Europe as a whole will require the next president to bolster ties with Berlin, experts say.
“In Berlin, his speech is to Europe, not just to Germany,” says Dan Hamilton, director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington. “It used to be that for the US, the problems were Europe’s divisions. Today, the challenge is unity. Berlin reflects this in a way no other city in Europe does.”
Tags: black, Europe, Germany, nazi, nazis, Obama, Politics, presidential election, Race, United States, US, white