Obamamania in full flight ahead of tour of Europe

[babylonsister]

Obamamania in full flight ahead of tour of Europe

By MATT MOORE and MELISSA EDDY

AP Photo/WATHIQ KHUZAIE


BERLIN (AP) -- Europe is about to give Barack Obama one of the grandest of stages for statesmanship.

In this city where John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton all made famous speeches, Obama will find himself stepping into perhaps another iconic moment Thursday as his superstar charisma meets German adoration live in shadows of the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. He then travels to Paris and London where he can expect to be greeted with similar adulation.

It's not only Obama's youth, eloquence and energy that have stolen hearts across the Atlantic. For Europeans, there have always been two Americas: one of cynicism, big business and bullying aggression, another of freedom, fairness and nothing-is-impossible dynamism.

If President Bush has been seen as the embodiment of that first America, Obama has raised expectations of a chance for the nation to redeem itself in the role that - at various times through history - Europe has loved, respected and relied upon.

"Americans need a change - and what's good for America is good for the whole world," said Maike Smerling, a physician who was born and raised in the former East Germany.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMAS_EUROPEAN_MOMENT?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[central scrutinizer]

1. A few more places where McW can't go

I love this - Obamania will make it impossible for McW to visit any of these places. The coverage will be all about the tens of thousands of people who cheer Obama in public versus the empty hangar on some American base where McW is speaking.

[JerseygirlCT]

6. I've heard from a friend in Berlin that they're thinking

it might be more like hundreds of thousands who show up there... This will be something!

[Cha]

8. They have the room at

Siegessäule! I saw endless Germans cheering Green Day there in 2005 when they were singing "An American Idiot".

[skooooo]

2. This is going to be something to remember!!

Wish I could be there to see him, and buy some German Obama tshirts.

[gateley]

3. Wonderful article! And some great new pics in Amman Jordan (today):

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/galleries/595.html?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[pberq]

4. 21st-century Marshall Plan

It's simple common sense that decreasing poverty, disease, etc., will increase world security.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMAS_EUROPEAN_MOMENT?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Evoking a time when Europe looked to America with gratitude, he called for a 21st-century Marshall Plan to alleviate world misery because "that can be our best investment in increasing the common security of the entire world."

Polls from Germany, France and Britain - the only three countries on Obama's European tour - show the presumptive Democratic candidate an overwhelming favorite over his rival, Republican John McCain.

. . .

But there appears to be a deeper mechanism behind Europe's palpable excitement over Obama than just a break from the acrimonious Bush years. After all, it's difficult to imagine the continent being swept by "Clinton-mania" or "Edwards-mania" had one of Obama's main rivals for the Democratic nomination prevailed.

For Europeans, perhaps, it isn't just that Obama isn't Bush but that he's come to be seen as the "anti-Bush" - a figure who represents such a startling contrast to the outgoing president that there's a sense the whole Washington power structure might be purged of much that Europeans see as wrong with American leadership.

[Purveyor]

5. Neocon heads are going to explode!!! It is almost entertaining to listen to

hatewing radio this week.

Hannity was exceptionally 'shrill' yesterday. :)

[Cha]

7. "Obamamania"!

<In more snips from your article>

"We should be glad that an American is coming who people don't have to demonstrate against," Trittin said on N24 television. "The rest of Europe is jealous that Barack Obama is speaking here in Berlin."

180 degree turn!

"Obama, who will continue to France and Britain after his Berlin stop, strikes a chord with European admirers of the American ideal that all should have equal chances of success."

"He's different from other politicians. He represents minorities and he's down to earth and smart," said Ioannis Ioannidis, a 27-year-old salesman in Stockholm, Sweden. "He comes from nowhere. He wasn't born into it, and it's got nothing to do with what family he's from."

Obama did come out of nowhere..I'm reading "Dreams from My Father" and it's stunning to think this kid will grow up to be president of the United States of America.

[GalleryGod]

9. OBAMA to liberate Paris!

The New CINC !

I feel like RE-Upping!