Speigel Online: Obama “Walking A Tightrope”
July 23, 2008 / 5:07 pm • By Dr. Melissa ClouthierEuropean leaders are worried his words have no substance:
Although the discussions over where Obama will appear in Berlin are finally over — he will speak at the Siegessäule, or Victory Column, at around 7 p.m. on Thursday — another debate is already heating up. Is Obama using Berlin merely as another prop for his election campaign (more…)? In an editorial, theInternational Herald Tribune is demanding greater “sobriety” from Obama. The Economist is complaining of “disquieting signs of a tendency on Mr. Obama’s part to tailor his message to whichever audience he is talking to.” The magazine asks if one will be able to find any real clues from his talk about the future course of US policies in the speech. Others bemoan the fact that the senator isn’t even bothering to make a symbolic visit to Brussels, the capital of the European Union. How can he truly be interested in positively transforming the trans-Atlantic relationship if he doesn’t make a stopover in the city, they are asking? Paris and London are already frustrated: The two countries feel neglected because Obama is paying them only brief visits.
Germans are happy to have him around. Well, as happy as Germans can be:
SPIEGEL has learned that the Obama team is frustrated by the controversy surrounding the candidate’s Germany visit, with some asking why the trip is so difficult for the Germans to comprehend. The candidate merely wanted to drop by for a visit with America’s allies to share his vision of US-European relations. It is said that the address he plans to give in Berlin will not be a stump speech, but rather a substantive speech on trans-Atlantic relations. Of course, as a presidential candidate, Obama is limited to talking about this vision, since he doesn’t have the ability to sign documents or treaties or even make policy. And as a man running for the presidency, he obviously has to keep American audiences in mind when he makes appearance abroad.
Obama is said to want to signal to voters back home that he has the necessary gravitas for a president and that he is a man who can reconcile America with the international community following the Bush years. His team believes images of Obama against a backdrop of enthusiastic Europeans will strengthen his campaign. At the same time, he must make sure that he doesn’t appear to be more popular abroad than at home.
There will be many problems for this trip:
1. If it were possible, the MSM looks more in the tank for Obama than ever.
2. Cheering adoring Europeans will cause skepticism from Americans in light of the fact that he has already talked down to Americans about foreign languages.
3. Obama won’t look like he has gravitas. He looks like a rock star. Rock stars generally are not associated with devoted patriotism and seriousness unless you live in Hollywood.
I don’t know how this all can be possibly good for Obama. Ultimately, I see this trip as a necessary evil for Obama. He has no foreign cred, so he had to build some. But building it now smacks of campaigning for the Presidency on foreign soil and pandering to Europeans, but maybe it seems that way because that’s what it is.
