Just watched Obama's speech in Berlin. Not an exceptional speech - much of it he has said here at home. But he did talk about the Berlin airlift after WW II and managed to strengthen the rickety bridges with a country that just five decades ago was at war with the rest of the world.
To say he was warmly received would be an understatement. The crowd waved American flags and cheered, at times shouting "Obama, Obama" or "Yes we can."
I can't even imagine an American crowd turning out in those numbers (200,000) for one of their own candidates, let alone a foreign candidate. It shows how important it is to Europe that we get it right this time, how much they want to engage with us and join us in our efforts to combat global problems, if we just give them a leader who is intelligent and wise, rather than a bra snapping frat boy who usurped the office eight years ago.
Obama is an American citizen, but like many Europeans, he also considers himself a citizen of the world. In this global economy where news travels in seconds from Bangladesh to Bangor, any candidate for president of the United States who does not consider himself a citizen of the world would be a fool. Any presidential candidate who makes fun of foreign countries, as McCain did of France when they opposed the Iraq War, simply does not have the sophistication to understand that we are all dependent on each other in more ways than ever before: economically, militarily, environmentally, and culturally.
Indeed, the crowd in Berlin reflected the cultural interdependence of the world. In the crowd were a variety of faces, from the blackest of Africans to the blondest of Scandinavians, and all shades in between. And there stood Obama, a mixture of two races, combining the features of his white American mother and his black Kenyan father, talking to the world about working together to save the planet, stop terrorism, and remove the remaining walls between rich and poor, black and white, Jew, Christian and Muslim, and admitting America's imperfections even as he professed a love for the country that had given him so much opportunity.
Shortly after the speech ended, John McCain was granting an interview outside of a German restaurant in Ohio, with one of his minders, Lindsay Graham, by his side (Lieberman must have had a previous engagement), and all he could say was how ignorant, inexperienced and wrong Obama is. From the sublime to the ridiculous, as the saying goes. How petty and small McCain looks. How desperate his strategy.
There is simply no comparison. Obama is a statesman. McCain is a politician. Obama is looking to the future, McCain betting on the past. Obama speaks of lofty goals and common values. McCain seeks only to tear down Obama. Obama wants to be president to bring the nation and the world together to solve problems. McCain wants to be president just to be president.
To say he was warmly received would be an understatement. The crowd waved American flags and cheered, at times shouting "Obama, Obama" or "Yes we can."
I can't even imagine an American crowd turning out in those numbers (200,000) for one of their own candidates, let alone a foreign candidate. It shows how important it is to Europe that we get it right this time, how much they want to engage with us and join us in our efforts to combat global problems, if we just give them a leader who is intelligent and wise, rather than a bra snapping frat boy who usurped the office eight years ago.
Obama is an American citizen, but like many Europeans, he also considers himself a citizen of the world. In this global economy where news travels in seconds from Bangladesh to Bangor, any candidate for president of the United States who does not consider himself a citizen of the world would be a fool. Any presidential candidate who makes fun of foreign countries, as McCain did of France when they opposed the Iraq War, simply does not have the sophistication to understand that we are all dependent on each other in more ways than ever before: economically, militarily, environmentally, and culturally.
Indeed, the crowd in Berlin reflected the cultural interdependence of the world. In the crowd were a variety of faces, from the blackest of Africans to the blondest of Scandinavians, and all shades in between. And there stood Obama, a mixture of two races, combining the features of his white American mother and his black Kenyan father, talking to the world about working together to save the planet, stop terrorism, and remove the remaining walls between rich and poor, black and white, Jew, Christian and Muslim, and admitting America's imperfections even as he professed a love for the country that had given him so much opportunity.
Shortly after the speech ended, John McCain was granting an interview outside of a German restaurant in Ohio, with one of his minders, Lindsay Graham, by his side (Lieberman must have had a previous engagement), and all he could say was how ignorant, inexperienced and wrong Obama is. From the sublime to the ridiculous, as the saying goes. How petty and small McCain looks. How desperate his strategy.
There is simply no comparison. Obama is a statesman. McCain is a politician. Obama is looking to the future, McCain betting on the past. Obama speaks of lofty goals and common values. McCain seeks only to tear down Obama. Obama wants to be president to bring the nation and the world together to solve problems. McCain wants to be president just to be president.
