Obama ist mein Fuehrer

This was a t-shirt I saw the other day walking down the Fressgasse. A large German man was stretching the cotton to unseemly proportions but there it was: Obama's face with the phrase "Obama is my leader" emblazoned under it.

The Germans (and most Europeans) began their love affair with "Der Schwarze Kennedy" (the black Kennedy) almost a year ago, and many of my students brought up Obama's upcoming campaign stop to the Fatherland in class this week.

If I were a German, I would have a little resentment towards Obama's campaign bringing its "Yes we can!" patriotism to my country (Obama will be in Berlin on the 24th). I get the whole global village idea but don't Germans see the brassy attitude displayed in this visit? Obama is saying, "Hey Deutschland, pay attention because I may be the president in a few months and we all know your lives are dictated by that possibility." It's a little brash. But what's even more brash is Obama's presumptive choice of speech locale: the Bradenberg Gate. Long a symbol of the Cold War and made famous by Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev, take down this wall bit" in 1987, the Gate is arguably the most important public space in Germany. So why do our candidates get to make stump speeches there? Isn't this event, with its pomp, publicity, and sound exactly what they don't like about us?

Some Germans, like Angie, agree with me. But others raise an interesting counter-argument: America helped save Berlin, so the Gate is as much our symbol as anyone else's. What's interesting is that this pro-America argument is coming from the left... would they be so willing to lend the candidate their backdrop if he was associated with "Mr Bush?" It's also coming from Berlin's mayor, a man who looks at a very poor, underpopulated city and probably sees Obama's visit as a ka-ching, ka-ching photo op.

I asked my students their opinions and they welcomed the use of the Gate. Again, they said that it's hard for them not to see Berlin as a proxy American city, so why not? Plus, they said, Obama is so young. And his wife is so stunning. And he has two little girls. And, he's not Bush. They've got a crush on Obama.

In Other Berlin-Ami news, the new American embassy opened up on July, 4. George Bush Sr. (who the Germans like), was in attendance. The embassy is located right next to the Gate, in the most prime real estate in the city: 100 yards away from the Reichstag, 50 feet from the former wall, 100 feet from the Murdered Jews monument, and half a block away from that hotel where MJ dangled his baby.

Read this article about Obama in Deutschland:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3473664,00.html