Obama Wants to Avoid an Official Visit with Merkel

President Obama’s scheduled trip to Germany in June should not appear to be an official state visit. As requested by the White House, Spiegel Online learned from diplomatic circles that he is planning a personal visit. Apparently Obama wanted to visit locations where his forefathers were.

On Tuesday, it was announced that a team from the White House was in Dresden, searching for potential accommodations for the president. In addition to a brief visit to the city on the Elbe, the president’s visit will also include a trip to the Buchenwald memorial.

Obama’s great uncle, Charlie Payne, was a member of the 89th Infantry Division, which participated in the liberation of the labor camp, Ohrdruf, one of Buchenwald’s subcamps. It is likely that Obama would visit on June 5, one day prior to his attendance at the festivities marking the 65th anniversary of the landing of American troops at Normandy.

One diplomat stated that Dresden offers a good chance to obtain historical perspectives of Germany; however, other locations are also being considered. The German federal government is involved in the visit of the White House team currently in Dresden. Recently the German government was informed of the president’s desire to visit.

Merkel-Obama Relationship Only Lukewarm

Spokesman for the German federal government, Ulrich Wilhelm, stated Tuesday that Obama is considering a trip in June. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) looks forward to another visit from the president, according to Wilhelm. During the NATO summit meetings in Kehl and Strasbourg at the beginning of April, Obama already had made an excursion to Baden-Baden. As a presidential candidate, Obama gave a widely popular speech before approximately 200,000 people at the Victory Column.

German diplomats are now declaring that the private nature of the scheduled trip fits in perfectly well with previous visits. However, their statements could be only window dressing, because an official visit from President Obama in the country’s capital during the German elections seems to be impossible. At least the Chancellor would prefer an official visit from the popular president, rather than just a visit to Saxony and Thuringia.

Diplomats point out that other important countries, like France, have also failed to obtain an official state visit from Obama. Of course, the unusual trip planning could contain a hidden message from the White House. The relationship between Chancellor Merkel and the new U.S. president has not fully developed.

When Obama was a presidential candidate, Merkel opposed his wish to speak at the Brandenburg Gate. Also, Merkel still has not made an official visit to the White House, despite the fact that an appointment had been arranged prior to the G-20 Summit. According to reports, Merkel is not keen on crossing the Atlantic for the sole purpose of meeting briefly. In return, Obama might not be interested in granting her an official state visit, a privilege which America’s closest ally, Britain has already enjoyed.

Is this a sign of estrangement between the two politicians? Top German diplomats claim that Merkel and Obama got along splendidly at the G-20 meetings and at the NATO summit. Their characters are very similar and the German-American relationship is being shaped by “strategic patience on both sides”, as the official diplomatic statement goes.