Barack Obama speaks to 200,000 in Berlin; John McCain whines at German restaurant in Ohio
Um, seriously!
Addressing more than 200,000 elated Europeans massed in Berlin at twilight, presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama promised Thursday that he would work to unite Christians, Muslims and Jews in a safer, more united world.
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.”
Local authorities said the crowd was more than 200,000 — triple Obama’s previous record of 70,000 in Portland, Ore.
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.”
Obama’s 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 had a sad little press availability at a place called Schmidt’s Fudge Haus right after he ate the wieners at Schmidt’s Sausage Haus on a homosexual date with gay Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), all of this, of course, in Ohio.
McCain’s speech (Watch for Lindsey Graham trying to casually pick the wiener out of his teeth with his tongue on camera — this is undoubtedly a common problem for Lindsey Graham):
(h/t TPM)
Sad. My favorite parts were when he talked about how he, personally has great relations with Europe (even though most Europeans hate the US these days, entirely because of McBush foreign policy), and the part about how he gets to meet the Dalai Lama tomorrow. That’ll go over real well with the Fundamentalists who already hate him.
And now, Obama’s speech:
(h/t Towle)
Yes, voters, that’s the contrast.
Poor old sad whiny bitchy John McCain or new, young, beloved Barack Obama who might actually have a shot in hell at getting our allies to stop fucking hating us…
July 25, 2008 at 1:38 am
Obama gets an A+ for the week.
McCain won’t be singing Bomb Bomb Iran tomorrow, but he might sing Hello Dalai…
July 25, 2008 at 2:35 am
“new, young, beloved Barack Obama who might actually have a shot in hell at getting our allies to stop fucking hating us…”
One, this isn’t going to happen — America is hated because of its virtues, not its vices. In other words, America is the cosmopolitan society that globalization will bring to the rest of the world. In a market society, one gets to customize one’s own life. Traditionalists in other countries correctly see this as a threat to established orders.
Secondly, being liked as an end in itself is lame as a foreign policy goal. I’d rather do the right thing than be liked. Many in Europe, including the liberal Gladstone, thought Abraham Lincoln was a barbaric oaf at the time for waging war to keep the Union together. I’m not saying being disliked is an end in itself. Obama however wants to jettison freedom as a foreign policy aim and go back to the old days of being friends with theocrats and dictators, just for the sake of being friends, i.e., expediency and selfishness. I’m not sure that’s change I can believe in.
July 25, 2008 at 2:44 am
“America is hated because of its virtues, not its vices”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, you must be drinking your own stagnant Kool-Aid.
Wow.
Let’s ask all my military friends why America is hated. Hint: It’s not because of our “freedom,” like George says. Nope, it’s because we stick our dick in other peoples’ deserts and declare wars halfway across the world for self-serving reasons and ignore humanitarian crises like Darfur.
Earth to you: EUROPEANS hate American foreign policy. Not just Muslims in traditional societies.
You need to get out more.
Also, at no point did I say that “being liked as an end in itself” was a worthwhile foreign policy goal. Cute strawman argument, though.
Your charges against Obama ring hollow, considering the fact that our current president has done a hell of a lot to prop up theocrats (Saudi Arabia?!?!?!) and strengthen theocrats (Iran).
You’re vomiting talking points, and you’re on the wrong blog for that, because we deal in facts here. Obama never said he wants to be “friends” with “theocrats and dictators.” He merely understands that the best solution to foreign policy issues like Iran isn’t necessarily to drop bombs on it.
(Fucking obviously.)
July 27, 2008 at 10:22 am
[...] I, for one, like the idea of a President who isn’t a bumbling fuckwit. [...]