Report: Bush Officials Not Happy About Possible Obama Speech At Brandenburg Gate
There's been an interesting twist in the ongoing behind-the-scenes discussions over whether Barack Obama will deliver a speech on July 24th at Berlin's historically-charged Brandenburg Gate.
A new report in the German press says that Bush administration officials are unhappy with the idea and privately said as much to representatives of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The whole thing started when Der Spiegel reported the other day that Obama would be visiting Berlin on July 24th, stirring speculation that he wanted to speak before the Gate, a place that's associated with JFK and Ronald Reagan, symbolizes the end of the Cold War, and would give Obama's speech a great deal of historical resonance.
The Obama campaign has been tight-lipped about his plans, saying that he has "considered several sites for a possible speech." Meanwhile, Merkel has reacted with coolness to the idea.
Now Der Spiegel has added a new twist to the tale.
From the mag...
The respected Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported this week that a member of the Bush delegation approached Merkel's foreign policy advisor, Christoph Heusgen, at the G-8 summit in Japan to discuss misgivings about Obama's planned speech. The government is also acting out of respect for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has long enjoyed strong ties to Germany and good personal relationships with a number of high-level government officials in Berlin.
The report is unconfirmed, and the paper cited here doesn't have an English translation, but Der Spiegel describes it as "respected." If Bush officials are privately trying to nix a speech that would give Obama a major boost it's an interesting development and raises more questions, such as whether the administration is possibly letting efforts to help McCain intrude on back-channel diplomacy in other areas.
Hmm, might work to our advantage. If the Bush Administration is against the speech, this might give Merkel and the Germans a chance to stick it to him.
Maybe.
I cannot help but think that such a report is good news for Obama's prospects speaking at the Brandeburg Gate. Go get 'em!
July 10, 2008 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does Merkel want a chance to stick it to Bush? I was under the impression that Merkel and Bush were fairly chummy.
July 10, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does Merkel want a chance to stick it to Bush? I was under the impression that Merkel and Bush were fairly chummy.
* insert back-rub joke here *
July 10, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd just like to say, I CALLED IT! I CALLED IT!!
(Cue music and red, white and blue balloon drop a la Stephen Colbert)
My comment from this morning's Election Central comments thread:
The Bush Admin. or ambassador probably asked her to do it as a favor. The last thing they want is a big show of European support for Obama during the election campaign, validating the idea that he will bring the world back together. And I say European because he would undoubtedly draw people from all across Europe to his rally.
Posted by ohiomeister
July 10, 2008 9:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/election_central_morning_round_116.php#comment-2957464
July 10, 2008 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe, maybe not. I know what her electorate thinks of him, though. We'll see. I'm sure the decision is going to come down to, as usual, politics. I'm also sure Merkel is one to lick her thumb and stick it in the air.
July 10, 2008 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's not her call at any rate. It comes down to the mayor of Berlin, who was quite enthusiastic about the idea.
July 10, 2008 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Precisely
The rest of the world moaned when we elected and re-elected LeChimp. Yet, they still went ahead and voted in Pro-Corporate, Rightwing, Authoritarian governments in GB, France, Canada, and Australia (just to name basically EVERYBODY that counts in the "western" and/or "free" world)
What the hell gives? They all watched a Corporatocracy evolve (with disgust) here in the
US and still went ahead and got shiny new govts. that look remarkably like ours. Seems proof-positive to me that the Corporatists have struck on a really good worldwide scheme for rigging elections and dictating world-view thru media that just bamboozles the populace. Or, the peoples around the world just YEARN and vote for Corporatocracy even while they squeal against it.
Merkel is no big liker of LeChimp, but she is Corporatist.
July 10, 2008 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope that you simply forgot Italy in that list. I would hate to think that you mean to say that Australia "counts" but Italy does not.
July 10, 2008 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can't really compare those gov'ts to our gov't since the baseline is so different. They'd most likely be considered pretty liberal here.
July 10, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly.
I remember seeing a news piece a few years ago about an unnamed political party's position on the issues.
I saw it and thought it looked pretty good and progressive.
Turns out it was the Tories in GB.
July 10, 2008 6:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
If European right wing politicians were in America they would, in fact, be right wingers. The policies they pursue are more mild, but that's not because they're temperamentally more liberal than American conservatives, just that they're operating from a baseline where there's a much bigger welfare state.
July 10, 2008 7:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes. In Canada, for instance...
Abortion completely unregulated. The Conservative Party has officially dropped it as an election issue.
Capital punishment banned for thirty years. No popular pressure whatsoever for restoration, and restoration is not part of the Conservative Party platform.
The principle of single-payer health insurance sacrosanct. Very much a third rail for anyone who wants to f'with it.
Last but not least, the Conservative Party in Canada has a minority government and has found it almost impossible to get more than 35% support in polls. Since all the other political parties in Canada are to the left of the Conservatives, that means that 65% of the population does not approve of the government's performance.
July 11, 2008 7:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
An oversight. Didn't they get rid of an authoritarian proto-fascist media government.....only to have it return again 4 years later?
July 10, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Indeed they did. If anyone awards the "craftiest con man in all history" prize, I am sure that Silvio Berlusconi's candidacy is very much in the hunt.
July 10, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Spain, don't forget Spain. They have a socialist government.
July 10, 2008 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's not forget that Merkel herself is CDU, which maybe not be as right wing as our present day neocon controlled Republicans, is right of center.
Would not want to discount Germany either.
I think that Missouri (aside from France) is thinking about the anglophone group.
July 10, 2008 6:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
do they use voting machines?
July 11, 2008 1:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'd just like to say, I CALLED IT! I CALLED IT!!
(Cue music and red, white and blue balloon drop a la Stephen Colbert)
My comment from this morning's Election Central comments thread:
The Bush Admin. or ambassador probably asked her to do it as a favor. The last thing they want is a big show of European support for Obama during the election campaign, validating the idea that he will bring the world back together. And I say European because he would undoubtedly draw people from all across Europe to his rally.
Posted by ohiomeister
July 10, 2008 9:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/election_central_morning_round_116.php#comment-2957464
July 10, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
They are chummy. She indicated she is not too happy about it either. Frankly, who gives a damn what Bush is happy about? He is so over.
July 10, 2008 8:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Independents in the center, unlike the idiots on the right, wants America improve relations with the outside world.
It's a great oppurtunity for Obama, as long as it's well orchestrated.
July 10, 2008 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd say it was an outrageous development, actually. The Bush Administration doesn't want Obama speaking at a particular location? I don't think the Bush Administration should be controlling where Obama speaks.
I really hope that Merkel gives a figurative F.U. to the Bush Administration and welcomes Obama to the Brandenburg Gate.
July 10, 2008 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
agreed, not really defensible
July 10, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Looks like that shoulder grope is
finally paying dividends for W.
July 10, 2008 3:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama: "Ich bin ein Berliner."
July 10, 2008 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I am a jelly doughnut!"
July 10, 2008 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's slang. He's a fucking donut.
July 10, 2008 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ja, Wir können.
July 10, 2008 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
It might be, liam - German media is reporting that Obama is considering the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin as an alternative site for the speech...
It ain't the Gate, I'll admit. But JFK actually spoke in front of the Schoeneberg town hall, but we still remember that speech don't we?
July 10, 2008 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
"member of the Bush delegation approached Merkel's foreign policy advisor, Christoph Heusgen, at the G-8 summit in Japan to discuss misgivings about Obama's planned speech."
Wouldn't the Bush Monarchy be guilty of the Hatch Act, by butting into politics while on the clock?
July 10, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
They don't care if they break the law.
July 10, 2008 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
When has not violating the law been a concern for the Bush 43 White House before?
They don't care, and as much as they like to try to wrap themselves in the flag, they're using the Constitution to wipe their rears.
July 10, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
FYI, the FAZ is hella respected.
July 10, 2008 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Too damn right about the FAZ.
Funny thing: the US Embassy just opened its historic location in Pariser Platz, right by the Gate -- Daddy Bush did the ceremonials on July 4th -- and Berlin's city authorities spent a long time objecting to the 'security' measures that Uncle Sam demanded.
(You can see how close it is to the Gate on this Wikipedia page.)
If Obama wants to have an event in the shadow of the US Embassy, and the Berlin mayor agrees, is the ambassador going to nix it?
July 10, 2008 7:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
WHy should anybody give one whit what the Administration thinks about this?
July 10, 2008 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't this a Hatch Act violation?
July 10, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I just lifted this off of DailyKos ---
July 10, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Forgot to add...Bush did this at the G8
July 10, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reported in the UK Daily Telegraph.
That's right up there with, "Nope, no weapons of mass destruction under here..."
There is no low to which this guy won't stoop.
July 10, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did he end by farting loudly?
It's about all he hasn't done.
July 11, 2008 7:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Minor typo: "several sites", not "several sights".
July 10, 2008 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Some translations from the original article on faz.net:
Aides of Sen. Obama informed the German Ambassador in Washington D.C. weeks ago about the visit. Ambassador Scharioth encouraged the trip and meetings with Merkel and state secretary Steinmeier at the Office of the Federal Chancellor.
The Obama campaign also asked about other locations the Senator cold visit while in Berlin.
Ambassador Sharioth recommended Checkpoint Charlie, the Holocaust Memorial and the Brandenburg Gate. Nothing unusual and he didn't make any warnings about the appearance either. And why should he? Many people make appearances and speeches at the Gate. The Dalai Lama spoke there recently.
NOW sources say that the foreign policy aides of Chancellor Merkel Christoph Heugen got balked at by a Bush aide about the plans. It seems to be a matter of fairness to them. If Obama speaks, McCain should be able to speak too.
A member of Obama transatlantic cooperation team and who didn't want to be named said: " The Brandburg Gate is a historic location, not an exclusive" He added that not allowing Obama to speak would be like denying foreign politicans to deny them speaking at the National Mall "just because MLK gave his big speak there in 1963".
The German Federal Foreign Office sees it similar. They call for more proudness and thankfullness that an American politican visits the Gate as "it is a symbol of freedom, which we owe to the Amercians"
Comments from the opposition parties
FDP: the whole thing is absurd and burocratic nonsense
Green party: If the Dalai lama can, Obama can too.
July 10, 2008 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can you imagine John McCain giving a major speech at the Brandenberg Gate after Obama?
What is it with Republicans and shitty grins?
July 10, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, they already have a green screen. Can't they just edit it in?
July 10, 2008 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Angela just loves Georgie's massages. She can't help herself, she's putty in his hands.
July 10, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's not slang for jelly donut in Berlin!
July 10, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I, unfortunately, grew into my political conscience during the Bush years. I just want to know - is this kind of politicking typical of a sitting President?
I mean, I just can't see Bill Clinton pulling this kind of nonsense. The recent actions by the Bush administration seem to be McCain campaign play calls.
I can only think of one word to describe this: UNPRESIDENTIAL.
July 10, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
This one smells like Cheney to me.
July 10, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
And you'd be right.
No president, not even Nixon, has had the audacity and disregard for the traditional restraints of the office that this creepy little freak has.
July 10, 2008 10:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Apparently the Chancellor doesn't get to decide who is and isn't allowed to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.
July 10, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah! This would be what is known as Stecken Sie es zu ihr
July 10, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone who still thinks JFK misspoke, should read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner#Jelly_doughnut_urban_legend
July 10, 2008 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit is openly gay and a Social Democrat. He's not exactly a fan of Christian Democrat Angela Merkel. I'm betting Obama gets to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.
July 10, 2008 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would love to see TV coverage of 75,000 appreciative Germans getting the opportunity to be a part an Obama event compared and contrasted agaist McCain (Bush's guy) later speaking at the same venue in front of a handful of curious onlookers and his feeble entourage.
It's fun watching Republican talking heads have to work as hard as they have been to EARN their paycheck.
July 10, 2008 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or, 300,000 of them.
July 10, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or three million. Remember Europe has a very convenient short and medium-range transportation network, and Berlin is smack in the middle of it. People are going to show up just to give the FU to Bush.
July 11, 2008 7:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe W could have his shoulder rub buddy build a wall around the Brandenburg Gate so Obama can't get near it. Then Obama can speak right outside the barrier and start by saying "Chancellor Merkel -- tear down this wall!"
July 10, 2008 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Though I don't doubt someone from the Bush administration expressed displeasure at the idea of Obama holding a speech at the Brandenburg Gate, I suspect that the misgivings expressed by Merkel, as a former East German and therefore especially conscious of the symbolism of the monument, are genuine and not externally motivated.
Frankly, as a strong Obama supporter, even I'm uneasy about the, um, audacity of him holding his introductory speech for Europe as a "mere" candidate at such a historically charged location. The other sites that are apparently being considered, like the Gendarmenmarkt and Potsdamer Platz, would better serve the purpose of the visit in proportion to its significance.
July 10, 2008 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I understand your viewpoint but given the extraordinarily poor state of the U.S. image in Europe right now, I think that a larger jesture is called for and appropriate.
July 10, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
How about Alexanderplatz, or Judengasse?
I think you are right. It is rather audacious. But he has always struc