Obama Wants to Follow Kennedy’s Footsteps in Berlin

Barack Obama is not yet in Berlin and is making the German political world excited. By letting it be understood that the Democratic candidate for the White House could, during his scheduled visit to Germany on July 24, give an important speech on transatlantic relations in front of the Brandebourg Gate, a location symbolic of German reunification, his campaign team incited a controversy at the heart of the grand coalition’s German government.

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) let it be known that she felt “confused” as to why Mr. Obama is using this location charged with history as a tribune for his electoral campaign, while emphasizing that she was excited to meet him. Mrs. Merkel is afraid of annoying the Republican candidate, John McCain, and the current American government. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Kimmitt, did not hesitate to remind Berlin that “it would be good for the federal government to reinforce contact with us rather than to pass over our shoulder in the direction of our successors,” he stated in the tabloid Bild.

The Chancellor’s spokesperson emphasized that the Brandebourg gate was “a location with a certain exclusiveness,” normally reserved for chiefs of state. It was here that American President Ronald Reagan launched, in 1987, an appeal to Mikhail Gorbatchev, who was then head of the USSR, to “tear down the wall” in Berlin. Germans especially remember the speech given by President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963 in front of the Schoneberg mayor’s office, in West Berlin, where he declared in German, “I am a Berliner!” in order to express his solidarity with the city then cut in two. No doubt Mr. Obama’s advisors also have this event in their heads.

On the other side, Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Frank Walter Steinmeier (SPD), expressed sympathy towards the idea of a speech in front of the Brandebourg gate. “This would be the expression of a vibrant German-American friendship,” he made known via his spokesperson. For the Minister, this location constitutes a “piece of the German-American memory.”

Klaus Wowereit, the Social-Democratic mayor of Berlin, does not want, under any circumstances, to lose this opportunity for publicity, and has already made it known that he would give the green light to this decision. In fact, the decision is up to the city and not to the German government. But as to the latter, adds the Chancellor’s spokesperson, it is up to Mr. Obama to decide what is “in good taste.” In any case, it is certain that the Chancellor will maximize and limit the public aspect of her encounter with Mr. Obama by, at most, agreeing to pose for photographs.