No. 44 Has Spoken

[cal04]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,567919,00.html
By Gerhard Spörl

Anyone who saw Barack Obama at Berlin's Siegessäule on Thursday could recognize that this man will become the 44th president of the United States. He is more than ambitious -- he wants to lay claim to become the president of the world.

It was a ton to absorb -- and what a stupendous ride through world history: the story of his own family, the Berlin Airlift, terrorists, poorly secured nuclear material, the polar caps, World War II, America's errors, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, freedom. It's amazing one could even pack such a potpourri of issues into sentences and then succeed in squeezing them all into the space of a speech that lasted less than 30 minutes.


So what still sticks? That Barack Obama is a passionate politician who is fixated on and takes very seriously his desire for a bit of uptopia and a better world. That he is an impressive speaker who knows how to casually draw his audience into his image of the world -- one who doesn't have any need to resort to the kind of cheap effects that tend to prompt the uproarious applause of an audience. That he is a typical American -- an idealist in the true spirit of the American success story who is now very casually making his claim to become something akin to the president of the world.

(snip)
Anyone who saw him make the short way from the Victory Column in Berlin on Thursday to the podium saw a man with the serious gait of a basketball player, a man who seemed young, decisive and focused. For those who witnessed his appearance in Berlin, it is hard to imagine that John McCain still has any chance. McCain is 25 years his senior, a man who because of the torture he endured in Vietnam is in constant pain -- unable to comb his hair or lift his arm in celebration.

GERMAN POLITICIANS REACT TO OBAMA'S SPEECH
'A Strong and Gutsy Message'
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,567926,00.html

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1. "President of the world" - ?

That gives me chills, and not in a good way. I don't want anyone to be president of the world.

And I gotta say, there is no way I would vote for mccain, but I don't see the fact that he can't raise his arms completely as any kind of negative, and certainly a stupid comparison point by the author of this piece. Pretty shameful, really.

[tomreedtoon]

3. Not "lead" by force, but by example, I think he meant.

It was like the difference between how Dr. King lead and how the Weather Underground wanted to lead. Obama showed Germany an American face they probably haven't seen in a long time; a man with hopes who wants a better way, who actually has faith that human beings will do the right thing if given a fair choice.

When did Bush have faith in anything except Wild Turkey and cocaine?

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4. A very big part of his reception, imho, is that he is not bush.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with a little Wild Turkey and a little snow now and then. Then again, I'm not running for president.

I don't think Obama promises a break from use of "force" but rather a redirection of that force.

When he said in Israel that he would want to retaliate if bombs were dropping on his home with his family inside he didn't mention that Israel has been brutal in their "response" to the Palestinians. They too have had their homes razed and bombed. We are all people of equal value. You know, his statement that "nothing is off the table" regarding Iran's development of nuclear weapons - when the war party made such claims about Iran, they were chided here as warmongers. I can't just put that aside just because our guy says it.

[cal04]

2. Der Spiegel Calls the Election for Obama!

Oh my: they're still picking up the trash after the big Obama speech in Berlin, and already the powerhouse German publication, Der Spiegel, has weighed in with a prediction for the 2008 election: ''No. 44 has spoken.''

Or, as they so succinctly put it: ''No. 44 hat gesprochen.''
If you're John McCain, the reaction in any language is: ''Ach!''
Some excerpts from the glowing analysis by Gerhard Sporl, the chief editor of Der Spiegel's foreign desk:

''Anyone who saw Barack Obama at Berlin's Siegessaule on Thursday could recognize that this man will become the 44th president of the United States. He is more than ambitious -- he wants to lay claim to become the president of the world.

''It was a ton to absorb --- and what a stupendous ride through world history: the story of his own family, the Berlin Airlift, terrorists, poorly secured nuclear material, the polar caps, World War II, America's errors, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, freedom. It's amazing one could even pack such a potpourri of issues into sentences and then succeed in squeezing them all into the space of a speech that lasted less than 30 minutes.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=28499

[lanlady]

5. I was in the gym last night watching Obama's speech

on the TV monitor attached to the Nordic track, and not a single one of the young people in the gym, most of them African-American, were watching the speech on their respective monitors. Their TVs were all tuned to some dance show and other dumbass crap. It was very disheartening. So much for "this is the moment," as Obama put it.