Thurs, July 24 - Obamafest in Germany

Today was the day of Obama's long-anticipated and much-fretted over Berlin speech. Fretted over by the city of Berlin and the rest of the country more than Obama, I'd venture to say, after all the internal fuss over whether he could or should speak at Brandenburg Gate, or not.

Germans adore the man and showed up in droves no matter what - estimates are somewhere between 200,000 and 250,000 people. I wonder if this was his biggest audience ever? And yes, he talked about the Berlin airlift, which always has me tearing up - what an amazing, incredible feat. Berlin has a history like no other city in the world, and Obama made the most of it in his speech.

I only watched it streamed on CNN at work, but my brother and his girlfriend were in Berlin and made it over to the Siegessäule to hear him speak. These are a couple of pictures they sent from her cell phone:


It was a zoo! They said the crowds and the atmosphere were like at the Love Parade, or during the soccer World Championship, when Germany played and the games were broadcast on these same big screens at this very same location. Only difference was that today, for Obama, the city of Berlin went one step further and actually disassembled the street lamps lining the road to allow for an unfettered view.

These are just some random pics I pinched from the Spiegel website:

Obama's arrival on the stage

A waiting fan - 72% of Germans would vote for Obama if they could. So in case things don't work out here in November, Germany's elections are coming up next year...

Ah well. When in the throes of full-blown Obama-mania, things like this can happen: I try to ascribe it to a heartfelt desire to see him as one of us...

and this is his entry into the Golden Book of the City of Berlin - we all knew he had a way with words, but turns out, he even has nice handwriting! Is there anything this man can't do?