« B.Hussein Flyers For Germany | Main | Obama Campaign Says ~ "inapprpopriate to visit our Troops in Germany! " »
July 24, 2008
B.Hussein Obama Speaks In Berlin At The Victory Column
“The people in the crowd aren’t voters so in that sense it’s not designed to get them to the polls. It’s not a political rally,” he said aboard his flight to the German capital. “Hopefully, it will be viewed as a substantive articulation of the relationship I’d like to see between the United States and Europe.”
Berlin, Germany
CNN
Berliners were getting ready early for Obama’s address, setting up food stalls and entertainment platforms along an avenue near the site of the event.
A huge crowd gathered at the Victory Column, the site of Obama’s speech, as musicals acts performed in the hours leading up to Obama’s arrival.
Obama volunteers set up shop on street corners and were registering Democrats who live abroad to vote.
“Anyone an American citizen?” bellowed one woman holding a homemade “register to vote” sign.
Some in the crowd were looking to cash in on the Obama frenzy. For 5 euros (about $8), one could pick up two unofficial Obama buttons.
One button that seemed popular among shoppers had a picture of him superimposed with President Kennedy. Another had Obama’s head atop the body of a beer garden waiter holding seven huge glasses of German brew. The button’s slogan said “Obamafest.”
Obama said Thursday his speech will not be “a wonkish policy 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."
BERLIN (AFP) - Barack Obama Thursday told a staggering crowd of 200,000 people in Berlin that Americans and Europeans must tear down walls between estranged allies, races and faiths, in a soaring challenge to a new political generation.
from Fox News Major Garrett
Fox
The US embassy provided almost no help in arranging the visit to the Citadel (where the press conference will be held) and is not facilitating the meeting between Obama and King Abdullah.The movements and pictures from this day forward are entirely dictated by Obama’s presidential campaign.
While it is true Obama is traveling as a senator, he’s also the Democratic nominee and the trip is intended not only to show his ability to maneuver comfortably on the world stage, it’s also designed, by the campaign’s own admission, to give voters back home a chance to grow more comfortable with movements and settings on the world stage that convey commander-in-chief imagery.
Lastly, the campaign repeatedly dodged questions about whether it would position a camera crew of its own at the Berlin speech for the express purpose of shooting the scene for future campaign ads.
The campaign will bring its standard videographers who shoot for the campaign website to the Citadel today and there are no arrangement for a separate commercial camera crew at that event.
That there may be one at the Berlin speech suggests that event could produce footage for future Obama campaign commercials. That is not certain, but it is a possibility.”
From Drudge and also Drudge is all for B. Hussein Obama!!!
BARACK OBAMA BERLIN SPEECH: 'A WORLD THAT STANDS AS ONE'
THURS JULY 24 2008 12:58:02
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.Ê 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. Ê 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.
Those are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. Those aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of those aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of those aspirations that all free people -- everywhere -- became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of those aspirations that a new generation -- our generation -- must make our mark on history.
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. Let us build on our common history, and seize our common destiny, and once again engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world.
.
Wild Thing's comment.........
They should have broadcast it at Gitmo for the prisoners there. Now we’re talking torture!!!!! Let me make this perfectly clear....uhhhhhhhhhhhh......duhhhhhhhh.....uhhhhhhhhhhh
Citizen of the world? I would have appreciated more if he could have said a Proud American citizen!!!! Oh wait this is America hating Obama speaking.
Of course he just HAD to work the race angle in. I’m surprised it only took him until the 2nd paragraph..”I don’t look like other Americans who have stood here.” Uh Yah, those others actually had brains.
“Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen — “
Then pay your own way you worthless bastard, and leave my tax money alone!!!!!!!
He is telling the Germans what noble victims they were.
Forgetting we did the airlift, we rehabbed Germany and Europe after they nearly destroyed civilization and that wall went down because of us.
'People of Berlin -- people of the world -- this is our moment. This is our time.'
One World? Hell, the world is a US world.
Weak crowd response.
Weak delivery. There is no passion, no real belief.
And how stupid is he? Communism DID MARCH all over Europe.
"...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..."
THIS IS AN OUT AND OUT LIE TO SAY THIS!
This is truly unprecedented, campaigning in a foreign nation, criticizing your own nation and the current American president on foreign soil, proclaiming a vision for “our people.” This is a nauseating speech, I find this foreign campaigning flatly offensive, and his internationalist, socialist, enviro-hysteria rhetoric as truly alarming. God, I hope our nation does not fall for this charlatan.
Posted by Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 02:27 PM
Comments
Mr.Obama and the DNC has no right to be spending our taxes on this tour.He is not our President and will never be our President.He is a Narcissist with a ego as big as all out doors.He has disgraced America taking the flag off the airplane and puting on his own logo.A true American!! NOT!!.We still do not even know if he is a citizen or not. All we ever saw was the fake birth certificate. Well if anyone can take this trip and get it paid for then i think the PUMAS can and we can tell the world the truth about Nobama.
Thank you sandipuma of pumapac.org
Posted by: Sandra Terreberry at July 24, 2008 03:41 PM
The Annointed One said in Berlin today:
"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. "
Sorry, Lord Obama, but I gotta get to work, I have a family to support. Real jobs, not like you and your wife have, so you wouldn't know what it's like I guess.
Hey, to my friends in Michigan, where Ford posted an 8 billion dollar quarterly loss today: better shut down all of those auto plants because you're killing children in Africa. This will be an all-time classic: he's going to take all the UAW union's money to get elected, and then ravage the auto industry. Sorry to say that my brother-in-law and my aunt are in the business. They'd better start looking for new jobs now.
I hope some new and different jobs magically appear in Michigan, because I guess I will have to move there soon, seeing as how my driving my car to work is going to cause the Atlantic to flood out Massachusetts any day now.
Oh, and as a resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, if this clown thinks he's another JFK, he's gotta long way to go. JFK wasn't perfect but at least he had a few accomplishments in his life to go along with the speeches. This guy is a junior senator who thinks he's Lincoln, FDR, MLK, RFK, JFK, Churchill, and Gandhi rolled into one. Give me a break.
Posted by: Dave from boston at July 24, 2008 04:23 PM
Europeans are in need of another mass fantasy to save from the wreckage of all the others. History always seems to work these things out.
Trouble is, whatever the Germans think of Obama ("The Germans are either at your feet or at your throat" - Churchill), no one gives a shit about European opinion except cosmopolite liberals like Obama.
Believe it. The bad guys of the world are taking the measure of this little pixie and they like what they see.
Posted by: Rhod at July 24, 2008 04:45 PM
wow, are you people for real?
Posted by: greg at July 24, 2008 04:58 PM
Sandra: Only the Afghanistan and Iraq part of his trip is covered by congressional funds as a senator, the rest comes from his campaign money. After all, Mr. McCain criticized Mr. Obama for not going there, and Mr. Obama is just following Mr. McCain's advice.
Dave: The hostility and problems between unions and the businesses are issues that needs to be addressed, but is the Republican and Mr. McCain's way of screwing workers through totally uncontrolled free markets any better?
Rising sea levels may not affect us now, but what about our future generations? Just look at the island country of Tuvalu. The country is asking New Zealand to allow all of its population to move there because the sea will engulf the island.
Rhod: Consider the growth of EU and the strength of Euro currently, it would be a mistake to not engage and have good relations with the EU in the future.
Posted by: Miles at July 24, 2008 05:23 PM
The EU is growing? Who knew? Tell the Irish.
Posted by: Rhod at July 24, 2008 06:06 PM
MEGLOMANIAC THE LIAR --AKA OBAMA THE LIAR
GOOD GRIEF!! JUST MAKES ME WONDER WHERE IN THE HELL ARE THE WEREWOLVES OF LONDON?
I AM SURPRISED HE DIDN'T START TO SING BORN FREE AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS!!
LMAO-!! ANYBODY THAT VOTES FOR THIS MORON IS AS LOONY AS HIM!!!!!
GREG-- YOU COME IN HERE AND YOU ARE NOT ON YAHOO ANSWERS ANYMORE-- LMFAO!!!!!!
Posted by: Cheryl Zee at July 24, 2008 06:19 PM
B. Hussein Obama, very clever. He goes by his first name, which is Barack. Meanwhile you insult his intelligence and are pro-Bush? The only people who take into account the opinions of Europeans are people who realize that they are a huge percentage of the world economy, are becoming more unified and are our allies against a hostile world. People who choose to be anti-European are in essence anti-American and do not remember their history.
Posted by: Donald Duck at July 24, 2008 06:20 PM
donald duck and Miles, I assume duck is your real name or maybe it is dork.
No matter. Who the hell cares what the friggin Europeans think anyway. The Euro is rising so what wait awhile and it will collapse like any other economy in their hemisphere.
Obama is a sham, a charlaton and a liar, take away his teleprompter and he sounds just like your name sake, Donald Duck. Bush has done some good things and some not so good things but nothing as bad as you leftists weenies have painted him.
In other words Donald come back when you grow a pair and when you do maybe you can tell obama what it is like to be a man.
Posted by: Mark at July 24, 2008 07:28 PM
This really irritates the crap out of me. He's acting like the Germans have something to do with voting in the President of the United States and they don't. He's acting so high and mighty and the "I'm so much better than you are." and it's really ticking me off. At least Kennedy and Reagan were already President when they went to Germany and did their "Ich Bein Ein Berliner" and the "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" speeches! Obamanation is NOT President and I feel that this could be almost construed as treasonous. He is nothing. He's a bag of wind that my 6 year old could best with one hand tied behind her back!!!!!!
Posted by: Lynn at July 24, 2008 07:41 PM
Sandra Terreberry, yes there is still a huge question rightly so about Obama's birth certificate. I wish someone with some real power would find out about it and bring it forward.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 08:39 PM
Dave from boston, yes he is no JFK, not even close and I was never a fan of JFK but even I can tell he could not shine JFK's shoes.
No pun intended about the show shine, but if there is hell to Obama if he reads this.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 08:43 PM
Rhod......"no one gives a shit about European opinion except cosmopolite liberals like Obama."......DITTO that I agree 100000%. Thank you Rhod well said the whole comment.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 08:45 PM
greg, yes we are VERY real so get over it. We have brains and use them unlike the sheep that follow Obama.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 08:46 PM
Miles, no the EU is not growing.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 08:48 PM
Cheryl, oh my he is going to London and he will be one of them....... The " WHERE IN THE HELL ARE THE WEREWOLVES OF LONDON".
Good one.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 08:52 PM
Donald Duck. LOL you are kidding with a name like that you want to be taken seriously? haha
OK now let me tell you some duck, the USA has done more for other countries then any other country in the entire world. Not only our money for handouts, but aid and help of all types of things. Add into that factor what our awesome military has done not only for our country but also for other countries in the world no one can match NO one!!!!
If there was NO United States of America the world would be an entirely different place. And not a pretty one I can promise you that.
Obama is evil, dangerous a psycho to the max. He is as close to the anti-christ as a person could be. He will bring great harm to the USA and to those we have been friends with including we the citizens IF he manages to pull this off and win the Presidency.
I will call him Hussein, or Muslim or anything I wish. His middle name IS Hussein so if he does not like it he can kiss my ass!
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 09:00 PM
Mark, thank you!
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 09:01 PM
Lynn, I agree so much. He was bashing America in his speech and all the other things like you said added to that have me so furious.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 09:04 PM
"Obama For Kanzler?" BULLSHIITE! How about "VADER UND PANZERS?" The Eurabian / Europeon Union socialist bullsheviks were assigned to this ANTI-AMERICA rally! And the MC was Obamessiah. My in-laws told me the muzzies (Turks) have invaded Der Fatherland and their unemployment rates are around 23% now...This is what Obamessiah has planned for the remaining 31 Red States of America in 3 more months...
Posted by: The Ethics Cleanser 08 at July 25, 2008 12:11 AM
Read the Holy Bible's REVELATIONS and the BEAST unified the entire world, eh?
- "666 IN 2009"
Posted by: 2bornot2b? at July 25, 2008 04:02 AM
