In Search of Partners in Berlin

Obama’s Berlin speech was a disappointment. Everyone at the Brandenburg Gate was waiting for the one great sentence with which the first African-American president would secure his place in the world’s history books.

The speech Obama gave was very vague, and it made reference to issues that score you points in the Western world. With a sophisticated nonchalance, the speech mentioned gays and lesbians as well as the basic right to education, food and clothing.

But then came the one significant sentence that constituted the core of his speech. This hot Wednesday in Berlin, one day after the publication of the list of the 46 men who are to spend the rest of their lives in the Cuban torture prison, the president said, “We must…redouble our efforts to close the prison at Guantanamo.” As is so often the case, it is the choice of verbs that reveals the real purpose behind a politician’s words. Obama said a lot about wanting to accomplish certain goals, but he did not give any firm deadlines defining when he would do so.

Instead, he spoke time and again of the balance that must be struck between the right to privacy and the snooping interests of a state, or about the use of drones and other necessities in military interventions.

It was a speech full of empty words. A disappointment for those who had hoped for… well, for what exactly? Clearly, there is no such thing anymore as the sentence for the history books that contains the American claim to lead the Western world.

But, there was something else. There was an offer from the American president. Obama used the Brandenburg Gate, he used Berlin and he also used Angela Merkel and her East German background to send a clear signal to Russia. With his offer to reduce the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal by a third, he ventured into what is possibly the only area in which he can currently initiate something positive in his foreign policy: global nuclear disarmament. His initiative to lead the way here with a clear commitment deserves respect.

The fact that this appeal to Russia was broadcast from Germany to the whole world shows the central role that Berlin plays in America’s negotiations with Russia.

Maybe this one sentence of Obama’s is written with invisible ink in the world’s history books. With it Obama has indirectly made clear that he is no longer the president who wants to tell others what they have to do. Rather, he is a president who needs partners for his plans and goes looking for them, with his rolled-up sleeves, among his German friends.