Obamafest

Obama will deliver a campaign speech to Berlin voters today, preaching a sermon of hope and change that will roughly translate to "when George Bush steps down, the entire world is gonna breath a sigh of relief" or perhaps "anyone but Bush". Apparently they've banned hand-made signs, evidently to prevent photos of Obama speaking to cheering crowds holding Bushitler signs or somesuch.

The anticipation is palpable, both there and here. I happened to catch a short blurb on the radio this morning where a young German woman was interviewed about her impression of Obama and replied, "he knows something about Islam" (funny, he's been running from that over here).

Both Kerry and McCain must be secretly seething. Kerry also ran for president of Europe but got nowhere near this kind of reaction (they're expecting a million for the speech today). But to be fair, he didn't know much about Islam and probably seemed a little more militaristic than Barack. As for McCain, he's spent the last decade running from the image of typical Republican, trying to distance himself from Bush, and yet a typical German said,

"What do want, McCain to win?" that person asked. "It would be good if Obama won, and he can only do that if he convinces voters back home via the TV. So let the cameras show masses of people flocking to Obama through the Brandenburg Gate."

On with the show.

REACTION 7/24/08

Takeaways ..

Overall a good message, one even McCain could have delivered. Clearly aimed at moderates and those who think Obama lacks the international street cred to lead. Few can give a speech like the man of change but reality is something different. With that, here are my questions:

As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.

Drought in Kansas? Not really, unless he was talking about the far western tip. But it's nice to know Beantown was responsible for melting the north pole. Now if professor Obama can only tell us which city is to blame for increasing the southern ice cap.

The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand.

He talked about walls several times. Here this seems to be a knock at border security and sovereignty, or perhaps Europe's lack of charity.

But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.

Hard to argue this, since I've been saying it myself for some time.

This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably.

More code talk about wealth redistribution. UN-types must have been sexually aroused by this speech.

And despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.

This is both a good and bad statement, typical of Obama. He's clearly saying he's going to redeploy (end the war) but is suggesting that if chaos breaks out after we leave it won't be his fault altogether.

This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet.

He'll sign Kyoto, wink, wink. More largesse from America on the way.

Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?

In other words, Bush is a war criminal and I'll give comprehensive immigration reform to illegals while chastising those concerned with terrorists waltzing across the border.

every point of view is expressed in our public squares..

Yes, usually in English so we can all understand.
Ironically, Barack himself was speaking English today, not German.