07/24/2008
Barack Obama Gives First Speech to the World, in Berlin
Barack Obama spoke to a crowd estimated at 200,000 at the foot of the German Victory Column, giving a speech entitled "A World That Stands As One".
Politico reports: "His 27-minute speech at the gold-topped Victory Column was interrupted by applause at least 30 times, with occasional audience chants of 'O-ba-MA!' Billed as a speech about Transatlantic relations, it turned out to be a manifesto for the planet, with an appeal to 'the burdens of global citizenship.' Reaching out to skeptics back home, he heralded 'the dream of freedom' and declared firmly: 'I love America.' ... 'People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. This is our time,' he declared, offering himself 'not as a candidate for president, but as a citizen, a proud citizen of the United States and a fellow citizen of the world.' Obamaâs speech, the centerpiece of his presidential-style sweep of the Middle East and Europe, set a global agenda as expansive and audacious as any contemplated by a candidate for United States president."
Meanwhile, John McCain visited a German restaurant in Ohio, as if to make some sort of point.
Said McCain: "I'd love to give a speech in Germany. But I'd much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for president." He spoke outside the Fudge Haus which he mistakenly refers to as the Sausage Haus.
Think Progress debunks charges of media bias coming from the right...
Talking Points Memo has some analysis of the speech here, and you can watch it and read the transcript, AFTER THE JUMP...
OBAMA SPEECH TRANSCRIPT:
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama (as prepared for delivery)
"A World that Stands as One"
July 24th, 2008
Berlin, Germany
Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome.
I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.
I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father - my grandfather - was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.
At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning - his dream - required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.
That is why I'm here. And you are here because you too know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.
Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof.
On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade.
This is where the two sides met. And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.
The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army. And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. All that stood in the way was Berlin.
And that's when the airlift began - when the largest and most unlikely rescue in history brought food and hope to the people of this city.
The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold.
But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. "There is only one possibility," he said. "For us to stand together united until this battle is won...The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world: now do your duty...People of the world, look at Berlin!"
People of the world - look at Berlin!
Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.
Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle; where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.
Look at Berlin, where the bullet holes in the buildings and the somber stones and pillars near the Brandenburg Gate insist that we never forget our common humanity.
People of the world - look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.
Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again. History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. When you, the German people, tore down that wall - a wall that divided East and West; freedom and tyranny; fear and hope - walls came tumbling down around the world. From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. Markets opened too, and the spread of information and technology reduced barriers to opportunity and prosperity. While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.
The fall of the Berlin Wall brought new hope. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers - dangers that cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean.
The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil.
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.
Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all.
In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. Yet, in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth. And if we're honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny.
In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth - that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.
Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more - not less. 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.
That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.
The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.
We know they have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace. Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together; in the Balkans, where our Atlantic alliance ended wars and brought savage war criminals to justice; and in South Africa, where the struggle of a courageous people defeated apartheid.
So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.
That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe. Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads, and people to assemble where we stand today. And this is the moment when our nations - and all nations - must summon that spirit anew.
This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.
This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. 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.
This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love. With that wall gone, we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.
This is the moment when every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday. In this century, we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad. In this century - in this city of all cities - we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent.
This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all.
This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East. My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions. We must support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy, and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace. 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 the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations - including my own - will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one.
And this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world. We must remember that the Cold War born in this city was not a battle for land or treasure. Sixty years ago, the planes that flew over Berlin did not drop bombs; instead they delivered food, and coal, and candy to grateful children. And in that show of solidarity, those pilots won more than a military victory. They won hearts and minds; love and loyalty and trust - not just from the people in this city, but from all those who heard the story of what they did here.
Now the world will watch and remember what we do here - what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?
Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words "never again" in Darfur?
Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? 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?
People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.
I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.
But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived - at great cost and great sacrifice - to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom - indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us - what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores - is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.
These are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. These aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of these aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people - everywhere - became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation - our generation - must make our mark on the world.
People of Berlin - and people of the world - the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again.
Posted 6:30 PM EST by Andy Towle in Barack Obama, Berlin, Election 2008, Germany, John McCain, News | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
McCain giving a speech in Canada may have been arrogant, but Obama giving one in Berlin was definitely uppity.
That's the difference.
Posted by: 24play | Jul 24, 2008 10:07:07 PM
BILL, I can't remember but maybe you can refresh my memory; did you bitch when McCain made his speech in Canada?
You DO know that Canada is an "other country" right?
Posted by: Zeke | Jul 24, 2008 10:10:08 PM
I've got better news, Gallop has Obama and McCain tied. Hillary LEADS McCain by 8 points. In 4 key states McCain has gained on Obama and leads in 2. oops! 63% of Americans polled do not think Obama's over seas field trip makes him more qualified to be president. Thank you America! Yes, the Chosen One is over in Europe making more speeches and the media is drooling so much that have to wrap rolls of paper towels under their chins to keep from slipping and falling.
This is Obama's first trip as a Senator and or presidential candidate to Europe. Hillary has been overseas so much she could be Obama's tour guide and she could introduce him to all the forgein leaders she knows on a first name basis.
He/Obama is not the strongest candidate, he is the most inexperienced, untested and unvetted possible nominee ever. And if only a few hundred delegates find their balls at the convention in August then Hilary will be the democrats nominee. And all will be right with the world.
Posted by: david in iowa | Jul 24, 2008 10:11:46 PM
Oh, sweet Jesus. They're are still Hillary dead-enders out there? How sad.
Posted by: 24play | Jul 24, 2008 10:16:13 PM
Who does this man think he is? He is no JFK. He is a "community organizer" from the South Side with 2 years of senate experience with absolutely NO important legislative accomplishments.
And how shallow and gullible do you need to be to get inspired by hackneyed speeches and cliches like "hope" and "change?"
We are stuck with two terrible candidates - one narcissistic novice who thinks he is the Messiah and a senile old fart who would sell his mother for the presidency.
Yuk
Posted by: God | Jul 24, 2008 11:09:09 PM
What can one say to the people who are so filled with HATE that they cannot recognize a good thing when it slaps them in their idiotic head?
Posted by: homer | Jul 24, 2008 11:18:04 PM
I didn't know McCain was in Canada until just today. Perhaps it's because the media didn't give a hoot....I certainly do not recall reading about it on this site. As for him being in Canada...I don't care what Canada thinks of him.
But perhaps more importantly, I think there is a big a difference between a "speech" to a collective group and an unnecessary iconic performance which sort of comes across more like propoganda than anything really substantive. If Obama wants to give a speech to the Economic Club of Canada, I can only hope that it gets the same amount of press coverage that McCain's did.
As for "uppity"...eh...I can't say that's a particularly wise word choice. It harkens back to Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill. While I am not a fan of either candidate, I do not think Obama's campaign or Obama the man deserve being compared to Thomas' poor choice of words during his confirmation hearings almost 20 years ago, which raised a whole host of issues that I am not convinced are germane to this discussion.
Posted by: Bill | Jul 24, 2008 11:31:55 PM
Is "David In Iowa" still talking about Hilary being the nominee?
Oh my fucking GOD!
Posted by: Jason | Jul 24, 2008 11:38:30 PM
He should stay in the US wear he belongs and leave us alone.
Posted by: Caligula | Jul 24, 2008 11:45:21 PM
That's why people describe Obama as "arrogant" instead of "uppity," Bill. They don't have the balls to say what they really mean.
Posted by: 24play | Jul 24, 2008 11:57:19 PM
Oh yeah the Obamatology cult is crying HATER! to everyone who points out that their Emperor has no clothes.
Posted by: GOD | Jul 24, 2008 11:58:22 PM
24PLAY: Wow, Obama's "uppity", as in "uppity Negro?" I bet you would agree with Bill O'Reilly about supporting a lynching of Michelle Obama, right? I'm wondering, are you a Log Cabinette or just a regular obnoxious fag?
Posted by: Bob R | Jul 24, 2008 11:58:57 PM
Oh and of course everyone who dares criticize the Annointed One is most defnitely a racist too.
Posted by: GOD | Jul 25, 2008 12:02:10 AM
Ladies and gentlemen, the next President of the United States of America AND leader of the free world.
BOB R, I'll let 24PLAY speak for himself, but I'm pretty certain your impression of him is dead wrong. He was calling out the people who don't have the balls to call Obama what they REALLY think he is ("an uppity negro"), not Obama himself.
Posted by: Chas | Jul 25, 2008 12:08:38 AM
Uh, Bob, my original post was sarcastic. The intention was to point out that when a lot of people cite Obama's "arrogance" as a reason for disliking him, what they really mean is...they find him uppity. As in uppity negro. Or, as Jackie Mason liked to put it, a fancy schvartze.
Arrogance in a white male candidate is often grudgingly admired. (For example, McCain admits he has no grasp of economics, yet he thinks he's worthy and deserving of the presidency—at a time when the country is facing dire economic troubles.) In a black man, not so much.
Posted by: 24play | Jul 25, 2008 12:09:27 AM
"GOD": "Who does this man think he is?"
I'm pretty sure he thinks he's our next President. Many are inclined to agree.
Now who do you think you are? Oh, wait...
Posted by: Chas | Jul 25, 2008 12:12:05 AM
24PLAY is the perfect example of why I can't stand Obama. It is his cultish, crazed self-righteous, patronizing and race baiting followers.
Who the fuck cares if Obama is white, black, grey or purple? Perhaps only those who went to vote for him because of skin color. Most people in America don't give a fuck. I want a candidate who has TRACK REC ORD AND A SOLID RESUME to back up his empty promises and lofty speeches (which he doesn't even write himself)
Obama is not that candidate and I have the right to call him arrogant (channeling JFK, Regan and Martin Luther King at the same time!) without being called racist.
Posted by: GOD | Jul 25, 2008 12:21:55 AM
I don't know, God.
Asking "Who does this man think he is?" certainly sidles over from "arrogant" toward "uppity."
And speaking of emperor's with no clothes....How exactly is McCain qualified to be president? In 2009, not 1959.
He admittedly has no facility with economics; his own campaign promises vastly overspend his budget proposals. His idea of foreign policy is to needlessly antagonize the Russians by kicking them out of the G8 at a time when we need their support in Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Zimbabwe, China, North Korea.... He wants to expand Bush's disastrous policy of rogue-state rollback. And he has no fucking clue about Middle Eastern politics (or geography)—which countries are majority Sunni, which are majority Shia, which terrorist groups are allied with which countries/religious sects, which countries actually share borders.
He's a disaster waiting to happen.
Obama on the other hand, despite having just a couple years of national experience, is on top of just about everything.
Posted by: 24play | Jul 25, 2008 12:38:53 AM
I honestly cannot see how the line is drawn from my calling Obama arrogant to your thinking that the color of his skin has something to do with it. Unless I am using obviously offensive language (which ain't going to happen but that's not the point), you cannot and should not infer something more sinister from my comments. My balls are not among that which can get lost in "comment world." So please, unless you have them rolling around in the palm of your hand, and you can see the look in my eyes, no one should assume that they know or don't know what I have balls for.
Obama has a difficult task: convincing the majority that he is the best person to take us into what is a very uncertain future. As someone who has been to states (and even areas of my own state) where the color of one's skin is something people actually consider (or hate or fear depending on who you ask), that's going to be difficult. This isn't hate. This is not ignorance. This is reality.
And if Obama thinks he's going to be able to convince the many, many Americans (who, like it or not, happen to live in the same country - and in some cases - the same community as you and me), that he is the best person to be the next president, I believe he is arrogant for thinking he can and should do it from Germany. And there is nothing at all hateful, racist or uppity about that opinion.
And if McCain does the same thing you bet I'll bitch about it here as well. Assuming, of course, it's even discussed.
Posted by: Bill | Jul 25, 2008 12:49:22 AM
I've laid out exactly why McCain is beyond arrogant. You haven't addressed it. His arrogance seems not to bother you.
Posted by: 24play | Jul 25, 2008 12:57:03 AM
LOOKS LIKE SOME PATHETIC REPUBLICANS ARE A LITTLE JEALOUS OF OBAMA'S SUCCESS! LMAO!
just sad.
Posted by: awww | Jul 25, 2008 12:59:30 AM
The only thing you have successfully laid out if your belief that anyone who dares consider Obama arrogant is apparently someone with a racist agenda. Your statement that he's "on top of just about everything" smacks of the same delusion the fictional characters in "Bob Roberts" displayed. But in fairness, I'm not looking in your eyes.
Posted by: Bill | Jul 25, 2008 1:07:16 AM
Bill,
I'm getting two very different messages here.
One is, How dare you suggest some people who oppose Obama are motivated by racism?
The other's in here: "As someone who has been to states (and even areas of my own state) where the color of one's skin is something people actually consider (or hate or fear depending on who you ask), that's going to be difficult. This isn't hate. This is not ignorance. This is reality."
From the second one I get, There are people who won't vote for Obama simply because of his race. (Not to mention: Deal with it.)
Well, which one is it? It would be just a little lame for you to be appalled at me pointing out something you yourself admit is true.
Posted by: 24play | Jul 25, 2008 1:28:30 AM
24-
The first message you should be receiving: I think the stunt in Germany reflects Obama's arrogance and people just like me who call Obama arrogant are not racist. Also, I never once said I oppose him. I didn't comment about his policies or his leadership, only the arrogance arising from this event. It was you that raised McCain's lack of a grasp on the economy (among other things), all of which is not related to my initial point. I didn't take that bait.
The second message which is not being received accurately is my describing the reality that there are people in our country who will make their decision for president based on skin color. Is it right? Not in my opinion. Is it reality? Sadly, yes. We MUST deal with it. We must all deal with it much like we have to deal with people who hate us because of who we choose to love.
But let's be clear, you didn't point out anything other than your belief that my use of the word "arrogant" implied some latent racism on my part. I countered. You responded. And since it's getting late on the east coast, and I am beginning to wonder whether we are actually communicating with one other, I've got to make this my last comment for tonite.
To sort of usurp Obama's own comments from 2004: there are no red states, there are no blue states, there is only the United States. This country has been divided for far, far too long and there are many, many issues that concern us all. The last time I thought a candidate offered hope, the SOB managed to break my heart within just a few weeks in office. That was Clinton. Since then, I've been justifiably (and I think smartly) skeptical of "hope" and I know many others are as well.
It is my opinion that Obama should be here uniting the electorate instead of campaigning in Germany, and his doing so on the scale he chose to do so reflects an arrogance that I find quite unnerving. Period.
g'nite.
Posted by: Bill | Jul 25, 2008 2:38:06 AM
is america taking over germany? why would these german care?
Posted by: caelus | Jul 25, 2008 6:20:56 AM