Barack Obama’s first trip to Europe as the “presumptive” Democratic nominee will consist of stops in Great Britain, France and Germany.Only one public speech is planned on July 24 in Berlin.The exact location is not yet announced.But psericks has provided fascinating political, historical and even architectural details about the Brandenburger Tor and other possible venues.
Obama’s campaign has proven itself as masterful (if you forgive the faux blue Presidential seal and treatment of ladies in head scarves) at choreographing the backdrop for his speeches as he is in delivering them.Berlin should be no exception.It is a thriving pan-European cultural center 63 years after WWII and two short decades since German unification.And it is full of people who, like a majority of Germans, are wildly enthusiastic about Obama.Europeans generally appear to hope Obama will be the anti-Bush, sent to heal America’s heart and soul.So at whatever place Obama eventually speaks, there should be an enthusiastic throng and prospects for a great “photo op.”
Of course, photo ops can be tricky (see insert for a personal recollection of Jimmy Carter’s missing Caracas photo op).And truly meaningful and lasting memories, like the words and visuals of the Kennedy and Reagan visits, require an almost divine alignment of man, space and time.It is not certain that all these constellations are yet in proper orbit for Obama’s visit, however.For one thing, he will actually be speaking to two important but very different audiences.
Quest For The Perfect Photo Op
President Jimmy Carter visited Caracas, Venezuela in March 1978.I only vaguely recall the event even though I was personally there.It was supposed to be the start of an important visit to Latin America in the wake of the Panama Canal Treaty having been signed, ushering in a new era of US-Latin American relations.However, from my vantage point as a very junior officer serving at U.S. Embassy Caracas, it was not particularly eventful.And while the embassy’s senior staff jostled for “face time” with the President, I was assigned minor logistical duties.
I do clearly recall though that the White House advance team was obsessed about finding the perfect photo op.There were rumors it might appear in or maybe even make the cover of Time magazine.They decided to go for a still shot of Carter and Carlos Andres Perez (CAP), at the time riding high at the peak of Venezuela’s oil boom, walking through the colorful gardens at La Casona, the presidential mansion.I’ve searched, but could not find such a photo through Google.
There is, however, a small picture of the airport arrival ceremony in Google images and The American Presidency Project’s transcript of both presidents’ remarks.Reading the remarks today evokes pathos.For less than a year later, Ayatollah Khomeini would return to Iran, another OPEC country, to lead the revolution that would ultimately cause Carter’s downfall.And in his second term 15 years later, CAP would be forced from of office on corruption charges after surviving a military coup in 1992 by a young lieutenant colonel named Hugo Chavez.
The online transcript of the ceremony says that Carter delivered his speech at Simon Bolivar airport in Maiquetia in Spanish.If he did, I missed it.I was too busy behind-the-scenes making sure the President’s entourage boarded the cars waiting on the tarmac to whisk them all to Caracas.
First and most important is the audience that will not even be there: the American people.They, of course, will elect the next President.In a normally slow summer news cycle, Obama’s current world tour -- which also includes stops in Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Afghanistan -- will be closely watched here at home.However since the US media cannot be relied on to accurately report this trip, the Berlin speech is probably the most important opportunity between the last primary in early June and the Denver convention in late August for Obama to speak directly to American voters.
The other audience will include the people at the speech itself, as well as millions of other Europeans who are watching our presidential election with awe and expectation.For reasons related to their education, media focus and historic reliance on America, this audience is extremely well-informed about our politics.In fact, the average European may be as well or better informed about our national politics as the average American.But after the 2000 and 2004 elections, many Europeans have lost confidence in our ability to conduct elections and in our capacity to make a rational decision about who will lead us.
As much as Americans and Europeans have in common, and there are many ties that remain strong, these two audiences will assess Barack Obama’s performance in Berlin with different concerns and sometimes contradictory perspectives.Americans need to get to know Obama even if they don’t want to.Europeans want to get to know him even if they don’t need to.
Americans face this summer preoccupied by immediate economic problems here at home: the rising cost of gas and food, loss of jobs, home foreclosures and failing financial institutions.As Europeans head out on their traditional extended summer holidays they worry that America’s economic meltdown is dragging down their own banks and jeopardizing their unprecedented standard of living.
America worries about how it can safely extricate its troops from Iraq and restore the rule of law undermined after 9/11.Europe worries that it will be pressured to step up its commitment of forces in Afghanistan.And many Europeans wonder if the next Administration will be prepared to prosecute US officials responsible for violating international laws, conducting renditions, maintaining secret prisons and practicing torture.
America is struggling to assimilate the latest wave in a long history of immigration.Europe is wondering if its current immigrant population explosion is a threat to its religious and cultural identity, like the Ottoman conquest that was blocked somer 300 years ago.
Americans were united geographically following the Civil War, but national partisan divisions based largely on “values” and ideology now stymie government’s ability to provide for the public weal.European countries have for the first time achieved a semblance of transnational unity based on voluntary association, but they now struggle with how to proceed with institutional and policy harmonization.
When Barack Obama speaks in Berlin, he will be simultaneously addressing these disparate and sometime conflicting realities.His greatest challenge will not be adapting his style, but accommodating the substance of his oratory.For trying to satisfy one audience may not please the other.The challenge calls for an artful and nuanced construction of both words and ideas.We know that Obama is capable of meeting that challenge, but it will help considerably to have a great speechwriter who can provide the quotes to go along with the visuals.
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Obama answered a few questions from the press last night during his flight to San Diego. Obama said his team "didn't have a particular site in mind," but he wants "to make sure that my message is heard as opposed to creating a controversy."
The goal is to "lay out... the next administration's role in rebuilding our transatlantic alliance." The venue should be "appropriate" and not a "distraction."
Obama's advance team will arrive in Berlin this week to scout venues and finalize plans. Sources have given the German media a list of locations being discussed, of which the Gendarmenmarkt and the Schöneberger Rathaus are the most mentioned.
Interestingly though, the Berliner Morgenpostreports that the campaign has already declined an offer "to hold the speech in a building near the Brandenburg Gate," insisting instead on an outdoor venue.
The week-long, still-simmering war of words between Angela Merkel's center-right CDU and foreign minister's center-left SPD continues. The controversy has sustained itself this long for three main reasons:
(1) Because of the time change, German and American media are often reacting to one another on the following day rather than instantaneously. This drags out the news cycle.
(2) Even though developments have been few, interest is so intense in Germany that there's a demand for new articles every day and new statements from government officials on both sides of the debate, who tend not only to repeat but also, irritated, to intensify their argument.
(3) More political leaders from across Germany are now adding their thoughts, not always strictly by party lines.
But here are the highlights:
Social-Democrats continue to accuse Chancellor Angela Merkel of hypocrisy, using any pretext to tie Merkel to Bush:
"Ms. Merkel should be careful with accusations of political campaign against the Democratic presidential candidate."
In 2002 before the German parliamentary elections, she traveled as opposition leader to the US "to campaign against then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and wouldn't rule out the possibility of German participation in the Iraq War. She stabbed the then-Chancellor and his administration in the back."
The chair of the governing CSU party in Bavaria (allied with the CDU), Erwin Huber, accused foreign minister Steinmeier of trying to "ingratiate himself with a possible favorite."
I don't see how Obama has render any outstanding service to [German] unity. That's not a criticism, but there's no reason to give him that privilege.
But in so doing, Huber contradicted his own party's foreign policy adviser, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who on the same day dismissed criticism of Obama as just so much "summer theater." The adviser continued:
There are no plausible objections to an Obama appearance on the Pariser Platz (before the Gate). When there's public interest in an event, the square can be used.
The Berliner Morgenpost adds yet another possibility, a speech before students at the Free University (Freie Universität) in Berlin. (The Humboldt University would be more centrally located and with stronger backdrops, though perhaps without the unique history of the Free University.)
Speaking to the youth of Berlin could be compelling. It would be another way of keeping the narrative on change, on freshness --- and away from the event being portrayed as elitist or decadent. But I still find Gendarmenmarkt (and the Cold War) the stronger backdrop.
The rumors have been all over the place, and perhaps aren't worth following anymore. But the Obama campaign was no doubt counting on the Brandenburg Gate and is now working in overdrive to think through a replacement.
The White House Friday refused to comment on reports it told top German officials it opposed the idea of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama giving a speech at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
"I'm not going to comment on any conversations," said White House press secretary Dana Perino.
"We have no view on the locations of candidates' speeches or events. Our position is that the candidates have to make their own decisions."
Asked if any Bush administration officials had discussed the matter with their German counterparts, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said, "not that we're aware of." He added: "Our position is that each candidate is going to have to make decisions on their own about their campaigns."
So we have: "No comment" and "Not that we're aware of" ?
The Obama campaign might not end up getting the Brandenburg Gate as a venue. Sidestepping Merkel's objections would probably be wise.
And there may also be good reasons not to choose the Schöneberger Rathaus, where John Kennedy delivered the "Berliner" speech:
First, Kennedy spoke from a balcony, which isn't Obama's style.
Second, the Obama advance team is all about spectacular backdrops, which the Rathaus isn't necessarily. (See picture of Kennedy in 1964)
Lastly, the square probably isn't large enough for the size crowd that the Brandenburger Tor, Gendarmenmarkt, or other locations would allow. Berlin is a more expansive city since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
But here's an idea. Andrew Sullivan suggests the hands-down easiest way to make any Obama event delivered anywhere within the city limits of Berlin all about the Kennedy legacy and earn paragraphs of good press in the German media:
Take Caroline.
Update: I uploaded a satellite Google image below of the square. The square is narrow. Holding a rally there would also involve shutting down a busy street, whereas the Gendarmenmarkt involves a pedestrian zone and a broader square.
The German tabloid, Bild, adds an additional report, claiming to collaborate the Frankfurter Allgemeine's story that the Bush administration tried to influence the German government to limit Obama's visit:
As BILD has learned: The White House used various diplomatic channels to exercise powerful pressure on the Chancellor's office.
Tenor: WE are still --- ("We" meaning the Bush administration and the Republican party) --- in office. An Obama appearance before the Brandenburg Gate would be seen as an "unfriendly act" against the US-president.
At the G-8 Summit in Japan, American diplomats took the German delegation under Chancellor Merkel to task. A few hours later, the vice-spokesman Thomas Steg in Berlin got a phone call from Japan. His instructions: To voice the Chancellor's concern about an Obama appearance publicly.
Did Bush use American diplomatic pressure to try to silence a domestic political rival? Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central writes:
If Bush officials are privately trying to nix a speech that would give Obama a major boost it's an interesting development and raises more questions, such as whether the administration is possibly letting efforts to help McCain intrude on back-channel diplomacy in other areas.
Today the German Chancellor's spokesman confirmed her displeasure with the plan for an Obama speech at the Brandenburg Gate:
Thomas Steg, a spokesman for the chancellor, said Mrs. Merkel had “only limited understanding for using the Brandenburg Gate as an election campaign backdrop,” and that she had “great skepticism as to whether it is appropriate to bring an election campaign being fought not in Germany but in the United States to the Brandenburg Gate.”
As Mr. Steg put it, “No German candidate would think of using the National Mall or Red Square in Moscow for rallies, because it would be considered inappropriate.”
These are concerns that should have been addressed to campaign staff privately. To leak those concerns to the press is a diplomatic catastrophe, given that Obama might be the next president of the United States.
The problem is compounded by the fact that the German government has sent such mixed signals, with the Foreign Ministry and City of Berlin approving the plan, and reports that the German ambassador to the United States, Klaus Scharioth, "has reportedly worked for weeks to convince Obama's campaign that the candidate's only large European appearance should take place in Berlin" --- in other words, a public appearance, exactly what the Chancellor's office now thinks would be inappropriate in a foreign country for a political candidate.
I have wondered for days what the Chancellor's office could possibly be thinking.
The Foreign Ministry, in the hands of the Social-Democratic party, voiced its support for an Obama speech at the Gate, according to a newspaper account (my own translation):
As once more proven by the opening of the American embassy [last week], the Gate is a "part of a collective German-American memory." Because of this background, a speech "before or by" the Gate, whether by Obama or the Republican candidate John McCain, is an "expression of the lively German-American friendship."
Meanwhile, feeding the debate, the Bush administration has continued to add pressure on the German government to tone down its welcome of Obama, first through contacts at the G-8 Summit in Japan, and now today through a Deputy Treasury Secretary:
Indeed, Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt told the mass circulation tabloid Bild that "it would be nice if the German government would focus on strengthening its contacts to us rather than already beginning to look for our successors."
Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, centrally located, surrounded by federal government buildings, and opening up onto a massive park, is essentially the German equivalent of the Washington Mall.
And an event from the steps of the Brandenburg Gate holds the same historical resonance, especially for an American president, as, say, Martin Luther King's rally on the steps of the Washington monument.
The location is all the more potent given that --- during the years of the Cold War --- the Berlin Wall ran directly behind the Brandenburg Gate, leaving it visible but inaccessible from West Berlin, as seen here in a photo of Kennedy's famous visit in June of 1963:
The Brandenburg Gate is, to grasp for another comparison, something like Germany's Eiffel tower, a national symbol commonly sported on coffee mugs and tee-shirts. Easily one of the most recognizable locations in Germany, it's flanked by the German parliament building on the one side and, tellingly, by the new $145-million American embassy on the other.
Arguably, given Kennedy and Reagan, no other location in the world still holds the same symbolism for America's historical commitment to freedom and democracy.
German diplomats have apparently been at work behind the scenes to encourage Obama to speak in Berlin:
Germany's ambassador to Washington, Klaus Scharioth, has reportedly worked for weeks to convince Obama's campaign that the candidate's only large European appearance should take place in Berlin.
Obama campaign staff have been in touch with the Mayor's office in Berlin, and Secret Service agents have reportedly already scouted out the area around the Brandenburg Gate. The German news-magazine Spiegel also reports the date has been tentatively set for July 24th.
Interestingly, the Chancellor's office (Germany's executive branch) has apparently shown some hesitation about the choice of location. According to a statement described in the German press --- by my own translation:
"The Brandenburg Gate is the best known --- and one of the most historically significant --- places in Germany," according to the Chancellor's office. In the past, this location has only been used on special occassions for political events, and until now has only been offered to elected presidents.
The Chancellor's office worries that the precedent set by using the Brandenburg Gate might spoil its special significance and make it the scene of more frequent political rallies. The final decision, however, lies not with Germany's center-right Chancellor, Angela Merkel, but with Berlin's heavily Social-Democratic provincial senate, which has apparently already signaled its full support.
There is, however, a small picture of the airport arrival ceremony in Google images and The American Presidency Project’s 
First, Kennedy spoke from a balcony, which isn't Obama's style. 
The Brandenburg Gate is, to grasp for another comparison, something like Germany's Eiffel tower, a national symbol commonly sported on coffee mugs and tee-shirts. Easily one of the most recognizable locations in Germany, it's flanked by the German parliament building on the one side and, tellingly, by the 
