The Democratic Candidates’ Historical Discourse

On June 26, 1963 a charismatic president of the United States announced in Berlin the phrase “Ich bin ein Berliner”, (I am a Berliner), to request the end of the Soviet blockade imposed on the German capital, in the middle of the Cold War. Forty five years have passed and another charismatic Democratic politician, in this case a candidate to the presidency of the United States, has turned to Berlin (or to Europe?) to ask them for an active participation in the international community and, indirectly, for a major collaboration with the foreign policy and defense of the United States.

Fifty years ago, John F. Kennedy intended to gain the heart of post-war Europe and soften the heart of the Soviet Union disposed to maintain its scope of power in Europe with an iron fist.

Today, the Democratic candidate to the presidency of the United States, Barack Obama, has addressed the tens of thousands of people congregated in Tiergarten Park of Berlin, “as a proud citizen of the United States and citizen of the world,” to tell Europe, “we cannot permit ourselves to be divided.”

More than a quarter of an hour late, with concessions to his African American condition (“I know that I don’t look like the other Americans that have spoken before me”) and before an enthusiastic audience, Obama had the courage to recognize that the United States has committed errors, although he asked the Berliners (in reality, he was speaking to the citizens of the world) to continue to rely on the United States.

Facing “new dangers” that the World confronts in the twenty first century, among them he cited terrorism, global warming, the ease of access to nuclear armament, drug trafficking, poverty and violence in Somalia, genocide in Darfur, “that embarrasses our consciousness”, he said, Obama launched a convincing message, “No nation can defeat these challenges alone.” They are very different challenges than the Cold War but no less demanding, according to the democratic candidate, and before which there is no room for division.

“The only path is to tear down walls and build bridges,” sustained Barack Obama that asked for, in different points of his speech and with abundant metaphors, the exile of an isolationist attitude.

The critics of his speech should remind him that the country that he aspires to command has signed a multitude of bilateral agreements to guarantee immunity for its troops, officers, and mercenaries prominent all over the planet, and systematically denies the authority of international tribunals of justice and the supremacy of international rights. A panorama that none of the candidates on the list (the Republican John McCain and Barack Obama) have given relevant signs of wanting to change.

In a speech that in some moments appeared more destined to convince the Americans than the Europeans, Barack Obama dealt a blow to the unilateral policy of the outgoing President George W. Bush based on strategic alliances of interest and proclaimed “America does not have a better partner than Europe.”

He did not make a distinction, in this case contrary to Bush, among the Old Europe (headed by the countries restrained on the Iraq invasion) and the New Europe, that would be represented, according to the doctrine of the actual president, by the countries disposed to shelter the antimissile shield of the United States or to collaborate with the CIA in its “war on terror.”

Obama, following what was expressed during his recent trip in the Near East, asked Europe to involve itself in the military campaigns of the United States, “Afghanistan needs our troops and your troops,” and to support diplomatic pressure, led by the United States, against the development of nuclear ability in Iran. This is, from a pacifist view, “We should renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.”

Since his world tour began, Obama has limited himself to summoning press conferences and making informal declarations. The event in Berlin has been meticulously planned, it searched to reinforce the candidate’s message of change and unity with the symbolic force of speaking in the capital of a country destroyed by the Second World War, divided in two big blocks (western and Soviet) after the USSR invasion, and rebirth--the so called German miracle-- thanks in part to the generous help of the United States.

From the platform situated in the emblematic Berlin plaza, an Obama sober in form (except for his moments of appreciation at the beginning of his speech) proclaimed, “People of the world, look at Berlin, where the Germans and the Americans worked together and learned to trust one another.”

Obama’s intervention was the high point of the day’s work that brought him to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel (Conservative), with whom he debated, among other points, about the world economy, the Iranian nuclear program, and peace in the Middle East.

Obama’s international tour, preempting the great Democratic Convention that will take place in August, has brought him to Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Israel, and Germany. The next stop will be this Friday in France, where he will be interviewed with the president, Nicolas Sarkozy, at 5:00 (15:00 GMT). The European fringe will end with a visit to London where he shall meet with the prime minister, Gordon Brown, before returning to the United States.