Berlin Cheers Obama's America

[Joanne98]

When George W. Bush talks about "freedom," Europe groans. When Barack Obama invokes the same word, Berlin cheers.

To much of the world, Bush's talk of freedom is code for messianism, arrogance and empire. Obama reframed the debate--and reclaimed the word--with his spectacular speech in Berlin today, when he spoke of "the dream of freedom" as something both Americans and Europeans shared and could be proud of.

The visuals were stunning: the massive Victory Column behind him, speaking before a crowd of over 100,000 Germans, in a tree-lined park that resembled the Washington Mall.

Obama's America is not one of bluster and unilateralism, but a place where "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."

The parallels to John F. Kennedy, both at home and in Berlin, were too obvious to ignore. Obama summoned Kennedy's vision of the New Frontier and updated it for the 21st century. As Obama said:

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/338781/berlin_cheers_obama_s_america