“ICH BIN EIN OBAMA”

“ICH BIN EIN OBAMA”



This was the title that MSNBC’s Countdown used for its segment on Obama’s visit to Germany reminding us of the famous phrase “Ich bin ein Berliner” (“I am a Berliner”) from the famous U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s speech in Berlin in 1963, in which he stated the support of the United States for West Germany shortly after the Soviet-supported Communist state of East Germany erected the Berlin Wall as a barrier between the two states.


This title really describes the spirit and the energy of Obama’s visit during which he spoke in front of more than 200,000 people in Berlin. During that speech he looked more than a presidential candidate, he looked, well, presidential. Or even more than presidential.


The last time a U.S president spoke in Berlin – President Reagan - he was greeted with 25,000 protesters smashing windows and fighting police in a protest against Reagan's international policies. Obama’s Germans, on the other hand, were cheering for him.


Every time a US president appeared somewhere in the world outside the US, he was followed by protesters and demonstrations. But there is something about Obama. He merely a presidential candidate, and yet people listened to him as a president. A loved US president, which is something that we rarely see.


The world has casted their votes. They want Obama. I have never seen something like it before. Is Obama going to be the first Global president?


In his speech, Obama said:


“…. The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christians and Muslims and Jews, cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.”


Obama is aiming towards tearing down the walls that separated America from the rest of the world. He acknowledged that America has made so many mistakes, and he’s asking the world through the people of Germany for a new beginning. And the world seems to agree.


This has turned out to be a very interesting election. All the Us elections before were US elections when nobody cared about them except maybe some of the American people and some of the foreign governments abroad. But this year’s election is truly a global one. Not only are all the American people interested in it, but also the whole world.


Is it going to be really a change that we can believe in?