Barack Obama gave a speech to thousands of Germans in his recent world tour, and I wanted to pass along some analysis of it. Here's a good summary from Newsmax:
Of course, it didn't hurt the attendance (but was widely unreported) that there had been a free rock concert with several popular bands immediately before the speech. Conspicuously absent from the stage during Obama's speech was an American flag. His aides later insisted that was because he was only a visiting Senator, not the President, but there is no protocol that prevents any American official from flying an American flag at a foreign appearance. His speech was filled with soaring rhetoric that was borderline anti-American:
So, the speech ticked off Americans back home, even some in his usually adoring MSM. How did it go over with his German audience? Not well there, either.
To top it all off, Obama canceled a visit to see wounded soldiers at an American base while he was in Germany. As is customary for visiting officials, the Pentagon said he could visit as a Senator (with his official Senate staff), but not as a presidential candidate. The idea here is to prevent wounded soldiers from being used as pawns in a photo op or campaign ad. This is standard practice, and if Obama actually visited more wounded soldiers, he probably would have known that. But, when he found out that none of his press entourage or campaign staff would be allowed on the visit, he declined. He felt it was more important to work out at his hotel.
Lee Cary has more details and breakdown of many of the specific statements from the speech if you're interested.
The point is that this trip flopped. The Germans were less than thrilled, and it raised a whole new set of question marks for Americans.
There's my two cents.
As crowds cheered Obama globally, Americans here on the homefront were left wondering if the Illinois senator wants to be their president -- or the president of some other country. [And whether the major U.S. media would at least offer the pretense of objectivity. An MSNBC poll from last week found that 47 percent of the public thought the coverage of Obama's trip was "excessive."]
After Obama's speech to an estimated 200,000 Germans in Berlin, a columnist for Britain's Guardian newspaper began his review this way: "Barack Obama has found his people. But, unfortunately for his election prospects, they're German, not American."
Obama's speech to the Germans left much to be desired, from an American's perspective.
After Obama's speech to an estimated 200,000 Germans in Berlin, a columnist for Britain's Guardian newspaper began his review this way: "Barack Obama has found his people. But, unfortunately for his election prospects, they're German, not American."
Obama's speech to the Germans left much to be desired, from an American's perspective.
Of course, it didn't hurt the attendance (but was widely unreported) that there had been a free rock concert with several popular bands immediately before the speech. Conspicuously absent from the stage during Obama's speech was an American flag. His aides later insisted that was because he was only a visiting Senator, not the President, but there is no protocol that prevents any American official from flying an American flag at a foreign appearance. His speech was filled with soaring rhetoric that was borderline anti-American:
And then there was his speech, in which he proudly proclaimed he was in Germany as a "a fellow citizen of the world."
And there was the spectacle of the presidential wannabe going to a foreign land to apologize about the United States.
Obama told his German audience he was sorry about his country because "I know my country has not perfected itself." [This comment was made in the former seat of Nazi power. A letter to editor published in Obama's hometown Chicago Tribune noted the irony: "While America may not be perfect, there is no reason to apologize to the Germans, architects of the Holocaust."]
As for America's role in saving Germany from the onslaught of Stalinist communism and the subsequent Cold War, there was nothing.
There was a rhetorical flourish about the Berlin Wall coming down, but nothing about the great American sacrifice, not to mention how our military might made President Reagan's call -- "Tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev" -- a reality.
There was a fleeting mention of the famous Berlin airlift of 1948 that President Truman ordered to thwart the Soviet blockade that sought to starve West Berlin.
As Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby wrote, "Obama seemed to go out of his way not to say plainly that what saved Berlin in that dark time was America's military might.
"Save for a solitary reference to 'the first American plane,' he never described one of the greatest American operations of the postwar period as an American operation at all. He spoke only of 'the airlift,' 'the planes,' 'those pilots.' Perhaps their American identity wasn't something he cared to stress amid all his 'people of the world' salutations and talk of 'global citizenship.'"
And there was the spectacle of the presidential wannabe going to a foreign land to apologize about the United States.
Obama told his German audience he was sorry about his country because "I know my country has not perfected itself." [This comment was made in the former seat of Nazi power. A letter to editor published in Obama's hometown Chicago Tribune noted the irony: "While America may not be perfect, there is no reason to apologize to the Germans, architects of the Holocaust."]
As for America's role in saving Germany from the onslaught of Stalinist communism and the subsequent Cold War, there was nothing.
There was a rhetorical flourish about the Berlin Wall coming down, but nothing about the great American sacrifice, not to mention how our military might made President Reagan's call -- "Tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev" -- a reality.
There was a fleeting mention of the famous Berlin airlift of 1948 that President Truman ordered to thwart the Soviet blockade that sought to starve West Berlin.
As Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby wrote, "Obama seemed to go out of his way not to say plainly that what saved Berlin in that dark time was America's military might.
"Save for a solitary reference to 'the first American plane,' he never described one of the greatest American operations of the postwar period as an American operation at all. He spoke only of 'the airlift,' 'the planes,' 'those pilots.' Perhaps their American identity wasn't something he cared to stress amid all his 'people of the world' salutations and talk of 'global citizenship.'"
So, the speech ticked off Americans back home, even some in his usually adoring MSM. How did it go over with his German audience? Not well there, either.
Germany's Stern magazine carried the headline "Barack Kant Saves the World."
One of their columnists, Florian Güssgen, wrote: "The man is perfect, impeccable, slick. Almost too slick … Obama's speech was often vague, sometimes banal and more reminiscent of John Lennon's feel good song 'Imagine' than of a foreign policy agenda."
Slickness without substance seemed to be the enduring theme of his trip.
One of their columnists, Florian Güssgen, wrote: "The man is perfect, impeccable, slick. Almost too slick … Obama's speech was often vague, sometimes banal and more reminiscent of John Lennon's feel good song 'Imagine' than of a foreign policy agenda."
Slickness without substance seemed to be the enduring theme of his trip.
To top it all off, Obama canceled a visit to see wounded soldiers at an American base while he was in Germany. As is customary for visiting officials, the Pentagon said he could visit as a Senator (with his official Senate staff), but not as a presidential candidate. The idea here is to prevent wounded soldiers from being used as pawns in a photo op or campaign ad. This is standard practice, and if Obama actually visited more wounded soldiers, he probably would have known that. But, when he found out that none of his press entourage or campaign staff would be allowed on the visit, he declined. He felt it was more important to work out at his hotel.
Lee Cary has more details and breakdown of many of the specific statements from the speech if you're interested.
The point is that this trip flopped. The Germans were less than thrilled, and it raised a whole new set of question marks for Americans.
There's my two cents.
