Obama is the hope of a Western world filled with concerns. A recession looms as does high inflation sparked by exploding demand for commodities and natural resources. Furthermore, no one has yet come up with a convincing response to global warming. No one knows how to bring peace to the Middle East, Afghanistan or Iraq. And no one has a promising strategy for dealing with Islamist terrorism.
Barack Obama has already found his spot at the Brandenburg Gate. Indeed, it's where he will speak-- his voice, met with wild cheers from his audience, is enough to send shivers down one's spine even today. After giving his speech, he is driven in an open limousine through Berlin, where hundreds of thousands line the streets, chanting: "Kennedy, Kennedy."
He will be in Berlin this Thursday, when Germans will hail him as a magician with the ability to transform a gloomy world into a brighter place. Never before has there been so much excitement in Germany over the visit of a presumed US presidential candidate. Obama may be running for the White House, but judging by the commotion, one would think that he had already advanced two steps further and were the president of the world.
The rockstar, the stud has landed in Germany. And Germans are ready to show their appreciation for the first black presidential candidate in U.S. history. Germans are ready for a change of relationship between the U.S. and the "old country" or "old Europe." By going to Germany first, Obama hopes to grab the same magic that made John F. Kennedy an enduring image in the minds of most Germans. Barack Obama hopes to grab a bit of the Berlin magic established by President John F. Kennedy when he came to Berlin in 1963 for his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.
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