Here are some frontpages from
European newspapers for November 4th.
Moving !
Different !
Funny !
Inspiring !
(The election that will change America)
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
La France vote Obama
69 % of French people would vote for Obama, only 5 % for McCain.
80 % would be ready to elect a black candidate the President of France
From a French AP article:
80 % would be ready to elect a black candidate the President of France
From a French AP article:
Si les Français votaient le 4 novembre, c'est un raz-de-marée qui porterait Barack Obama à la Maison blanche. Pour la première fois depuis le conflit autour de la guerre en Irak en 2003, le candidat démocrate semble en position de réconcilier la France avec l'Amérique, même si son éventuelle victoire pourrait signifier aussi quelques désillusions.
Translation:
"If the French could vote on November 4th, a landslide would carry Barack Obama to the White House. For the first time since the conflict surrounding the Iraq War in 2003, the Democratic candidate seems to be in the position to reconcile France and the USA, even if a presumptive victory could also mean some desillusions."
The article continues to say that Obama is favored by a left-to-right spectrum of French political parties and that he had been welcomed with open arms by the French citizens as well during his short visit to Paris last summer (in contrast to Bush to whom the French always react with hostile protest).
Even French President Nicolas Sarkozy who likes America has subtly made known that he prefers Obama over McCain. He knows that the French public would accept his pro-America positions much easier with a President Obama than a President McCain.
And even if Obama's and McCain's positions are the same concerning climate change and the closing of Guantanamo, what makes the French easily favor Obama is the fact that he was against the Iraq war since the beginning and has a plan to bring it to an end, as it was this war indeed, that caused the rift between the French and the Americans in the first place.
Read the whole article in French here:
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/3/20081102/twl-usa-presidentielle-france-224d7fb.html
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Obama's speech in Berlin: "A fellow citizen of the world"
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.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/obamaroadblog/gGxyd4
And John Kerry comments on Obama's speech:
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.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/obamaroadblog/gGxyd4
~~~~~~~~~~
And John Kerry comments on Obama's speech:
On the speech itself, Kerry said it was "not just historic but unbelievably exciting at the grassroots level" to see "an American leader" cheered on foreign soil after so many years of world opinion being against Bush's policies. He said Obama told the Germans "not what they wanted to hear, but what they needed to hear" -- that America will return to leadership with the next president.
"... as if a rockstar is visiting Berlin"
Obama in my home country! I wish I could be there today but I live in France now and visit Germany only from time to time. (And well, he is coming to France too. *g*)
I was only 3 years old when John F. Kennedy came to Berlin but my amazed parents so often talked about this visit during my childhood and teenage years that it feels like I had been old enough to remember. My daughter now is old enough, actually a young adult following Obama's career since 2004, and we both are so hopeful that he will be the right person for America, Europe and the rest of the world. The 200000 gathered in Berlin today certainly think so as well.
And I remember another visit of an American President a few years ago. When G.W. Bush came to Mainz in 2005 I almost felt offended to have him come so close to my own hometown (Wiesbaden). On German TV they showed the empty streets and we heard the stories from friends and relatives who were confined to their shops and apartments because of security concerns. Or maybe less security but more concerns that Bush could see the protesters that had been in the streets of Mainz just the day before his visit.
What a difference now with Obama! And he isn't even president yet. Enjoy the contrast of today's pictures in comparison to the ones from Bush's visit 3 year ago. It's just amazing!
I was only 3 years old when John F. Kennedy came to Berlin but my amazed parents so often talked about this visit during my childhood and teenage years that it feels like I had been old enough to remember. My daughter now is old enough, actually a young adult following Obama's career since 2004, and we both are so hopeful that he will be the right person for America, Europe and the rest of the world. The 200000 gathered in Berlin today certainly think so as well.
And I remember another visit of an American President a few years ago. When G.W. Bush came to Mainz in 2005 I almost felt offended to have him come so close to my own hometown (Wiesbaden). On German TV they showed the empty streets and we heard the stories from friends and relatives who were confined to their shops and apartments because of security concerns. Or maybe less security but more concerns that Bush could see the protesters that had been in the streets of Mainz just the day before his visit.
What a difference now with Obama! And he isn't even president yet. Enjoy the contrast of today's pictures in comparison to the ones from Bush's visit 3 year ago. It's just amazing!
Obama in Berlin in July 2008:
Bush in Mainz in February 2005:
Empty streets...
... and protesters the day before
Saturday, March 8, 2008
I thought that the USA were a Democracy
Well, yes, during the more than 7 years under the rule of G.W. Bush Democracy was... declining... very much. But until now I really thought that it was the fault of Bush and his Neo-Fascist-Cons, and that soon with these criminals gone America would be a Democracy again.
Until recently I thought so. Now I'm not so sure anymore. I'm watching the primaries since January and would like to know how it is possible that elections in the US are sometimes more chaotic and irregular than elections in a Third World Country. How is it possible that votes aren't counted, voting places aren't prepared to receive the voters, people are bullied when they cast their votes, lawsuits are filed when a candidate isn't happy with the outcome and so on? How is it possible that serious journalists and TV anchors talk about the mere possibility to seat the delegates of Florida and Michigan when the primaries in these states were a joke with no campaigning and/or not all the candidates on the ballots? How is it possible that rules are bent to satisfy one candidate or the other? Is it really an election or a circus? And I always thought that the Democrats were "better" than the Republicans!
I'm sorry to say that, but if Hillary Clinton bullies and cheats and "law-suits" herself to the Democratic nomination, I'm done with America. As much as I like Barack Obama, I would have been comfortable with Clinton as the nominee, had she won the nomination in a normal and regular way. But what is happening right now is disgusting. I have lived in three different Democratic countries in Western Europe and never ever during an election here have I seen something like this. Americans are sending election observers to Pakistan but aren't able to hold their own elections in a correct way?? I'm really sorry for America. As much as I love John Kerry, he is only one man and he can only fight so much...
Until recently I thought so. Now I'm not so sure anymore. I'm watching the primaries since January and would like to know how it is possible that elections in the US are sometimes more chaotic and irregular than elections in a Third World Country. How is it possible that votes aren't counted, voting places aren't prepared to receive the voters, people are bullied when they cast their votes, lawsuits are filed when a candidate isn't happy with the outcome and so on? How is it possible that serious journalists and TV anchors talk about the mere possibility to seat the delegates of Florida and Michigan when the primaries in these states were a joke with no campaigning and/or not all the candidates on the ballots? How is it possible that rules are bent to satisfy one candidate or the other? Is it really an election or a circus? And I always thought that the Democrats were "better" than the Republicans!
I'm sorry to say that, but if Hillary Clinton bullies and cheats and "law-suits" herself to the Democratic nomination, I'm done with America. As much as I like Barack Obama, I would have been comfortable with Clinton as the nominee, had she won the nomination in a normal and regular way. But what is happening right now is disgusting. I have lived in three different Democratic countries in Western Europe and never ever during an election here have I seen something like this. Americans are sending election observers to Pakistan but aren't able to hold their own elections in a correct way?? I'm really sorry for America. As much as I love John Kerry, he is only one man and he can only fight so much...
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Cute!
I just have to post this picture! They are both so cute together ;-)
Teresa Heinz Kerry and Barack Obama
Don't get me wrong. She could be his mom ;-) And she is very much in love with her husband, John Kerry. They were holding hands in Boston last night.
And here are all the great people that rallied for Obama last night in Boston. It was worth watching it online at 5am in the morning here in Europe.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Beautiful !
This goes without words. But let me just say, this is the America the world is longing for.
Lyrics:
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --
Yes. We. Can.
Lyrics:
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --
Yes. We. Can.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Great news : Kerry endorses Obama !
It was my deep conviction that John Kerry could endorse no other candidate than Barack Obama and it was only a matter of time when he would do so. But seeing my two favorite American politicians together today in Charleston, SC just made my day!
When I "discovered" the candidate John Kerry four years ago and read about his inspiring life I felt sad that I hadn't known John Kerry before. At the time when he became an activist after returning from Vietnam or when he first came to the US Senate and fought to expose Iran-Contra etc. ... I have to admit that I was a little bit jealous of my American friends who had followed all of John Kerry's carrier and I couldn't hurry enough to read and learn all about him.
Then in the summer of 2004 my daughter Julie and I saw and listened to Barack Obama at the democratic convention and thought: WOW, this guy is amazing! (as certainly tens of thousands of Americans did *g*). The media talked about him as a future candidate for first black American president and my thoughts were that this time I might be able to follow the guy's political carrier from the beginning, something I hadn't been able to do with John Kerry.
Little did I know that not even four years later Barack Obama would be already a candidate for the presidency and would get John Kerry's endorsement. I'm very excited today and hope that Obama stands a chance against Hillary Clinton. I think that in about a month we will know for sure, but for today let me just enjoy my two guys together. :-))
Here are some pictures from the Charleston event :
Link to YouTube video with excerpts of Kerry's speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIcmrTzoPXc
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Judging from the gut
When I first followed an American Presidential election closely four years ago, I didn’t know much about American politics and I didn’t really know the candidates. So, watching the Iowa caucuses, I had a look at the candidates and followed my feeling by choosing one. It turned out to be John Kerry. I knew nothing about him but his open face, his humble acceptance of his win and his humanity did it for me. (Just as a by-note: My daughter went for the pretty face: John Edwards. But she was only 14 back then, so it’s understandable. *g*) It turned out that my judgment wasn’t that bad when I later learned who John Kerry really was. Well, he didn’t become president but he became someone I see as a friend and always will.
Four years later I know much more about American politics and should do better. But you know what? I’m stilling going from my gut when it comes to take a liking in candidates. Maybe it shouldn’t be that way, but I can’t help it. I saw Barack Obama for the first time at the 2004 Democratic Convention (on TV, of course – I wasn’t there *g*) and I liked him immediately. I still like him very much and I’m happy that he won Iowa. Hillary Clinton seems so cold (as much as I like her husband) and John Edward’s smile so fake that I just can’t warm for one of them. Obama strikes me as intelligent, open, humane and optimistic. A new face for a new century. And I don’t see him as black or white, as male or female, as young or old, but just as a hope-inspiring human being. He speaks to my gut and I feel comfortable about it, even knowing all I know now about political calculation, electability and so on.
And I will shock my readers here even more and say, that I was also not unhappy about Mike Huckabee’s win. Don’t take me wrong. I still would take ANY Democrat over a Republican in the 2008 election, of course! But from all the Republican candidates Huckabee is the one I like a bit. Mitt Romney is a Ken doll, John McCain a broken man who sold his soul, Giuliani the typical hypocrite empty suit. Oh, I know, I shouldn’t like Huckabee! And most of his voters were Evangelical conservatives, a group of Americans I really despise. But again, I can’t help it. I have some sympathy for the man. I saw him first a few years ago on TV on a CNN Health program (nothing political) and I thought he was a nice guy. I realized only later that he was a Republican politician. And for a Republican his speech is humble enough. Maybe he is honest and believes in what he preaches (as an atheist I shouldn’t make the same mistake many religious people make the other way around, and think that all religious people are evil ;-)), maybe he is another hypocrite, only talented enough to have me on. I really don’t know and I’m far from saying that I always get it right.
Anyway, let’s go on to New Hampshire next week and see what happens there. I really hope for Obama to get the nomination, knowing well that a lot of my fellow Kerrycrats on DU don’t share my wish. But John Kerry… is not running, will never be president, as sad at it is. And I think that we have to move on. (Okay, as I’m not American it’s not as personal for me at it is for my friends, I know that).
I just like the feeling to sit back and watch the nomination process somewhat relaxed, as I did as well in 2004. I just “discovered” John Kerry four years ago, but had he run again now, I would have been very anxious and worried for him, hanging on every word he’d say or the journalists would write about him. As I said, and after meeting Kerry a few times and all my American friends who love him too, I see him as a friend and I would take everything concerning him somewhat personal. With Obama, who I like but don’t really know, it’s different. I wish him well but wouldn’t be so devastated if he didn’t become the nominee.
But I still hope with all my heart that, when the election comes in November, America will get her soul back. (It will be hard, I know that. I was born in Germany 15 years after the Second World War ended.) After eight years of Bush horror, the American people really deserve to get some peace and their hopes up again.
Four years later I know much more about American politics and should do better. But you know what? I’m stilling going from my gut when it comes to take a liking in candidates. Maybe it shouldn’t be that way, but I can’t help it. I saw Barack Obama for the first time at the 2004 Democratic Convention (on TV, of course – I wasn’t there *g*) and I liked him immediately. I still like him very much and I’m happy that he won Iowa. Hillary Clinton seems so cold (as much as I like her husband) and John Edward’s smile so fake that I just can’t warm for one of them. Obama strikes me as intelligent, open, humane and optimistic. A new face for a new century. And I don’t see him as black or white, as male or female, as young or old, but just as a hope-inspiring human being. He speaks to my gut and I feel comfortable about it, even knowing all I know now about political calculation, electability and so on.
And I will shock my readers here even more and say, that I was also not unhappy about Mike Huckabee’s win. Don’t take me wrong. I still would take ANY Democrat over a Republican in the 2008 election, of course! But from all the Republican candidates Huckabee is the one I like a bit. Mitt Romney is a Ken doll, John McCain a broken man who sold his soul, Giuliani the typical hypocrite empty suit. Oh, I know, I shouldn’t like Huckabee! And most of his voters were Evangelical conservatives, a group of Americans I really despise. But again, I can’t help it. I have some sympathy for the man. I saw him first a few years ago on TV on a CNN Health program (nothing political) and I thought he was a nice guy. I realized only later that he was a Republican politician. And for a Republican his speech is humble enough. Maybe he is honest and believes in what he preaches (as an atheist I shouldn’t make the same mistake many religious people make the other way around, and think that all religious people are evil ;-)), maybe he is another hypocrite, only talented enough to have me on. I really don’t know and I’m far from saying that I always get it right.
Anyway, let’s go on to New Hampshire next week and see what happens there. I really hope for Obama to get the nomination, knowing well that a lot of my fellow Kerrycrats on DU don’t share my wish. But John Kerry… is not running, will never be president, as sad at it is. And I think that we have to move on. (Okay, as I’m not American it’s not as personal for me at it is for my friends, I know that).
I just like the feeling to sit back and watch the nomination process somewhat relaxed, as I did as well in 2004. I just “discovered” John Kerry four years ago, but had he run again now, I would have been very anxious and worried for him, hanging on every word he’d say or the journalists would write about him. As I said, and after meeting Kerry a few times and all my American friends who love him too, I see him as a friend and I would take everything concerning him somewhat personal. With Obama, who I like but don’t really know, it’s different. I wish him well but wouldn’t be so devastated if he didn’t become the nominee.
But I still hope with all my heart that, when the election comes in November, America will get her soul back. (It will be hard, I know that. I was born in Germany 15 years after the Second World War ended.) After eight years of Bush horror, the American people really deserve to get some peace and their hopes up again.
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