Posted on 07/20/2008 11:41:22 AM PDT by Kaslin
Barack Obama's campaign said Sunday he will give a speech on the future of trans-Atlantic relations in front of a Prussian war monument in downtown Berlin _ in view of the historic Brandenburg Gate.
The announcement that he will speak at the Victory Column, or Siegessaeule, ended weeks of speculation here. It also triggered criticism that the 226-foot column built in 1873 to celebrate Prussian war victories over Denmark, Austria and France was an inappropriate choice.
One of Berlin's best-known monuments, the column is topped by a golden, winged figure representing Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory. It stood in front of Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, until the late 1930s when Adolf Hitler's architect Albert Speer moved it to its current location in the middle of the Tiergarten park as part of uncompleted plans for a grandiose remake of the capital.
"I ask myself whether Obama was well advised to choose the Siegessaeule as a place for a speech on his vision for global cooperation," Rainer Bruederle of the opposition Free Democrats was quoted as telling the Bild am Sonntag weekly.
Since German reunification, the column has become known as the central location for Berliners to party.
At the other end, about a mile away, is Pariser Platz square and the Brandenburg Gate. Obama had wanted to give the speech there, but Chancellor Angela Merkel quashed the idea.
She defended her criticism of that location on Sunday, telling ARD television that the Brandenburg Gate _ the backdrop for speeches by Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton _ is linked to U.S. presidents.
"If the candidate _ or any other candidate _ is elected, then (he) is welcome to speak as president before the Brandenburg Gate," Merkel said, indicating that Obama's Republican rival for the presidency, Sen. John McCain, would be equally welcome.
Merkel declined, however, to comment on the Siegessaeule, saying only that "the team has made its decision and that will be approved and now we will take this location for what it is."
Obama was in Afghanistan on Sunday as part of a tour abroad that also will take him to Iraq and the Middle East. After speaking in Berlin on Thursday he is to visit France and England.
Hussein better watch it...The European vote is very important in the US elections.../s
Returning to his intellectual roots, eh? He wants to give us Bismarck-style ‘health care’, organize all sorts of government sponsored ‘Corps’ to extend the reach of the federal government into everyone’s daily life, and is running a campaign based on style that feels like an updated downscale version of stuff Speer and Riefenstahl would have come up with.
Wonderfully appropriate site for an Obama speech.
Obama arrogance at work once again.
This is a great perspective on Obama’s hubris for speaking at the Gate:
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=301182809264805
Stop, he will speak NEAR (1/2 mile) not AT the Brandenburg Gate.
Think many Germans will see (have already seen?) right through him.
obama needs to fire his “ideas” man.
I think B.Hussein might have blown it when he failed to “address” the NutRoots Nation get together.
“Heil Obama!”
That must be Reggie Love, his so called 24 hr/7 day “Butler and Handmaiden” so to speak. Yep a quality aide, just check out the drunken porno pics of Reggie Love on the Internet. Another “positive” image of HUSSEIN’s judgment(NOT!).
Remember when the MSM had a photo of Jenna Bush failing down and called her drunk? This is Obama’s ‘right hand man’ obviously drunk. Where are the magazine articles about that?!
An amusing tidbit here:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11886.html
~snip~
The campaign received 200 requests for press seats on the plane.
Among those for whom there was no room was Ryan Lizza, Washington correspondent of The New Yorker. The campaign, which was furious about the magazine’s satirical cover this week, cited space constraints in turning him away.
~snip~
I wonder if he stocked up on Obama’s choice of snacks before leaving. /s
He knows that “the boss,” as he calls Mr. Obama, likes MET-Rx chocolate roasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew — Black Forest Berry Honest Tea. He keeps a supply of both on hand.
On a similar note, the news channels were all gushing and worshiping him last night. Tonight, I am (blsiifully) not hearing a peep about him.
I can't help but wonder if their failed Maliki flap has got them a little flummoxed for the moment.
Ich bin ein Weiner.
UnExperienced, UnQualified & UnAmerican
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