Der Speigel: The Superstar Has Landed. Enormous Crowds are Gathering.

[flpoljunkie]

SPIEGEL ONLINE
07/24/2008 02:54 PM

THE CAMPAIGN COMES TO BERLIN

Obama Calls for Greater European Role in War on Terror

The superstar has landed. US Senator Barack Obama has now met with Germany's chancellor, its foreign minister and the Berlin's mayor. Enormous crowds are gathering as the presidential candidate prepares to address them.

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1251366,00.jpg
Germany meets the Superstar: US presidential candidate Barack Obama stands facing the Reichstag in Berlin. REUTERS

Would he drive to the Chancellery in a motorcade or would he take a helicopter for his visit to Chancellor Angela Merkel? Obama's charter jet had barely touched down at Berlin's Tegel Airport, and reporters were already asking the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate how he planned to get around the city.

Then he stepped into a sedan -- part of a long motorcade, accompanied by US security vehicles and German police -- and began the journey to downtown Berlin, with hundreds of fans standing by as he made his way. Obama briefly greeted a crowd assembled on the street before disappearing into the Chancellery. As she greeted the presidential candidate, Merkel said she was hoping to have a good conversation with Obama.

The talks between the German leader and Obama lasted for about an hour, and the pair reportedly discussed climate protection, global trade and German-American relations. Just after 12 p.m., the Illinois senator and his entourage traveled about a half a mile further to the Adlon Hotel near the Brandenburg Gate before a afternoon meeting planned with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the Social Democrats.

Obama finally arrived at the Foreign Ministry a little after 2 p.m. and emerged almost an hour later. Immediately following the meeting, Steinmeier announced: "The atmosphere was open and trusting. We built on our telephone conversation from mid-April." Steinmeier said he detected parallels in their philosophy of foreign policy. "Cooperation instead of confrontation -- that is also his foreign policy aim," adding that it had been a good conversation.

Following his meeting with Steinmeier, Obama met with Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit for 20 minutes in his hotel. The two discussed the US elections, integration in Germany and the city's economy. According to the German news agency DDP, Wowereit gave Obama a porcelain bear -- the symbol of the city -- as a gift, and Obama signed the city guest book, thanking the mayor and city officials for "this open-hearted reception" and calling the city "a symbol of the victory of hope."

At 7 p.m., Obama plans to give a major address on trans-Atlantic relations at the Siegesäule, or Victory Column, in Berlin's Tiergarten park. The speech is the only one Obama is holding during his one week tour of Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and European capitals. By late afternoon, crowds had already begun converging on the site to wait for his speech.

According to Obama's advisors, the candidate is expected to call on Europeans to increase their role in the war on terror. Obama is expected to ratchet up its efforts in that campaign, an advisor told Reuters. Obama has already announced that he plans to send more US troops to Afghanistan. He is also expecting greater contributions from America's NATO allies in Europe.

In an interview published earlier this week in SPIEGEL, Obama foreign policy advisor Susan Rice called on NATO to increase its troops and "to the greatest extent possible" to "lift operational restrictions." Though Rice did not mention Germany specifically, Berlin has drawn criticism in the US and Canada for refusing to send troops into the hotly contested southern part of the country where the Taliban insurgency has grown in strength. Instead Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, are restricted to peacekeeping and rebuilding in the relatively safe northern part of the country.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,druck-567804,00.html

[opihimoimoi]

1. Lets all hope for success...in one of his most importsnt speeches ever to date

[Indenturedebtor]

3. Bigger than Hasselhoff baby! Eat your heart out hoffmeister! n/t

[Barack_America]

2. "Cooperation instead of confrontation"

That's my foreign policy goal too.

And I guess the focus on Germany sending more troops to Afghanistan might explain the slightly less warm interaction between he and Merkel.

[Inuca]

4. YOu beat me to it

that's the phrase I was going to post about as well. It's about time. As to Merkel, I don't know if Obama really wanted a warmer interaction in view of what she said yesterday :-).

[judy]

5. Cooperation, that's great!

I sure hope, however, that Barack doesn't use the words "war on terror".
Does he?
Has anyone ever heard him use these asinine words? I haven't so far...

[bdamomma]

6. oh, the repigs and neocons are probably going BS right now.

too bad, the truth will overcome.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

7. I so vividly recall

being in my high school cafeteria when word came down over a loudspeaker that JFK had won the election in 1960. My little town along the Hudson River in New York had gone Democratic for the first time in recent memory, and there was screaming and cheering when the announcement was made. This is another time, but the wonderful, hopeful feeling is the same.....and it brings tears to my eyes. Another long, long nightmare is nearly over.

[flpoljunkie]

8. The first AP photos of the crowd...

A supporter of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., holds an U.S. flag prior to a speech of the Senator at the victory column in Berlin Thursday, July 24, 2008.
(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)


California-born Rachel currently living in Prague, a supporter of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., smiles prior to Obama's speech at the victory column in Berlin Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Miguel Villagran)


A supporter of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., holds a poster meaning 'Obama for Chancellor' prior to Obama's speech at the victory column in Berlin Thursday, July 24, 2008.
(AP Photo/Miguel Villagran)

[Kaylee]

9. This is so exciting!

:woohoo: :patriot: