	Generational Dynamics
	Forecasting America's Destiny ... and the World's

\| HOME \| WEB LOG \| COUNTRY WIKI \| COMMENT \| FORUM \| DOWNLOADS \| ABOUT \|

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Jul-2008
Barack Obama in Berlin calls for greater European militarism

Web Log - July, 2008

Barack Obama in Berlin calls for greater European militarism

Obama enthralls huge German audience with a history-making speech.

Europeans have little credibility these days, as was really apparent in the bizarre aftermath to the Irish vote against the Treaty of Lisbon. Europeans like to sit in their easy chairs, enjoy their 35-hour work week, complain about the "Anglo-Saxon model," make pompous statements about "global warming" but do nothing about it, and make pompous statements about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but never live up to their own commitments.

The best way to get Europeans excited is to say something anti-American. Europeans hated George Bush from the day he took office, as they mocked his Western accent and cowboy hat. Not surprisingly, they hate anything that Bush stands for, even if they love the same quality in Barack Obama.

It's worthwhile remembering all this, if you want to understand the European reaction to Barack Obama's speech in Berlin on Thursday.

Barack Obama in Berlin <font face=Arial size=-2>(Source: CNN)</font>

Barack Obama in Berlin (Source: CNN)

Why do the Europeans love Obama? The German newspaper Bild.de tries to explain (English version here):

"Germany has caught 'Obamania'!

Obama's speech in front of Berlin's Sieges Saule ('victory column') memorial in the Tiergarten park has been was greatly anticipated by Germans who see a hopeful future in the charismatic candidate, not only for the US but for the whole world. But why are so many Germans excited about the American Senator from Illinois? BILD breaks down the reasons for Germany's 'Obamania':

He's young! ...

He's multicultural and modest! ...

He doesn't just talk, he preaches! ...

He stands for freedom!

Within 16 months, Obama wants to withdraw the US troops in Iraq, a total of 4,125 soldiers. He wants to meet with the mullahs in Tehran and close Guantánamo Bay. In short, he hopes to make the world a better place. American publicist Roger Cohen said: "Europeans see Obama as the good American."

He's not Bush! ...

Bush in Germany is considered by many as a warlord, Obama stands for diplomacy."

This is what the Germans want to believe about Obama.

So here's a portion of Obama's speech:

"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."

Guess what got the wildest applause? It was the anti-American sentence, "Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law?" No surprise there.

Here's another portion of the speech:

"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 NOT the message that the Germans wanted to hear, so there was little or no applause.

The fight in Afghanistan is supposed to be a NATO fight. That means that the Europeans should be participating. The Europeans do have small contingents of troops in Afghanistan, but they're forbidden from fighting. They teach schools and build roads and plant gardens, but they don't fight the terrorists. That work is left to the Americans, the British and the Canadians.

So Obama is chiding the Europeans for not wanting to fight the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. He points out, indirectly, that al-Qaeda in Afghanistan was responsible for the subway bombings in London and Madrid, for the massive terrorist bombings in Indonesia and Lebanon, and for the terrorist acts of 9/11. He's telling the Europeans that they aren't doing their part, and until that happens, the terrorist acts on their own cities are going to continue.

But the Europeans don't want to hear that. They don't want to hear anything that implies a commitment on their part. They don't want anything except to join in the whining about America and about George Bush, the warlord.

The Europeans certainly don't hear that Obama is turning into quite a warlord himself. He's been talking about a much larger commitment to the war in Afghanistan, as I wrote last week in "Barack Obama endorses growing American troop force in Afghanistan."

And when he says that it's necessary "to stop the spread of nuclear weapons," he's talking about Iran. In an earlier speech in Israel, Obama made it clear that President Obama would not tolerate nuclear weapons in Iran. But that's not what the Europeans want to hear.

I'm now going to make a comparison now to Hitler, but I'm MOST EMPHATICALLY NOT comparing Obama to Hitler. The comparison I'm making is the reaction of the German people to Hitler, as compared to the reaction of the German people to Obama.

Here's a quote from a speech that Hitler gave in 1939:

"In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power it was in the first instance only the Jewish race that received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the State, and with it that of the whole nation, and that I would then among other things settle the Jewish problem. Their laughter was uproarious, but I think that for some time now they have been laughing on the other side of their face. Today I will once more be a prophet: if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevizing of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!"

One can imagine the cheers that Hitler received when he gave this speech. Did those cheering people even know what they were cheering at?

It's been one of the greatest enigmas of the last 65 years, how the people of Germany could have voted for Hitler and cheered all his speeches, knowing what he stood for. How was that possible?

We get a glimpse of it here, as we see Germans cheering wildly for a Barack Obama that doesn't really exist, except in their minds. They must have thought that Hitler was going to save the world, and now they think that Obama is going to save the world.

But I'm unfair picking on the Germans. The Americans seem almost as crazed about the great Obama in the sky as the Germans are. The journalists can barely contain their enthusiasm. After Obama's Berlin speech, CNN's lovely smitten anchor Kyra Philips could barely contain her joy and enthusiasm, as she used the phrase "powerful speech" about five times. I wonder if she even knew what the speech was about? Or is she just happy that he isn't George Bush? (25-Jul-2008) Permanent Link
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Donate to Generational Dynamics via PayPal

Web Log Pages

Current Web Log

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Jul-2008 Barack Obama in Berlin calls for greater European militarism

Web Log Pages

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Jul-2008
Barack Obama in Berlin calls for greater European militarism