Barack Obama electrifies the citizens of Berlin

Around 200.000 people had gathered today at Berlin’s Siegessäule in order to listen to the speech of US presidential candidate Barack Obama.

At 10am Barack Obama’s plane had landed in Berlin and during the day he met several german politicians to discuss topics which are of importance to the USA, Germany and Europe. After his visit to chancellor Angela Merkel which lasted for about an hour, he met the german foreign minister Steinmeier before Berlin’s mayor Klaus Wowereit came to see him. He brought the golden book of Berlin to have it signed by Barack Obama, just like any important guest of our city.

In his speech Barack Obama who is residing at Adlon hotel close to Brandenburg Gate concentrated on the long relationship between the USA and Germany in general and to Berlin in particular.

As Obama poited out it was the USA who were happy to help the citizens of Berlin survive during the time of the airlift and that after the fall of the Berlin wall now the countries in eastern europe can encounter freedom what is every mans aim in life, the same dream that made his grandfather leave Kenia and move to the US in order to find freedom.

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After the political walls have been torn down mostly around the globe it’s today’s generations huge task to tearn down the remaining walls - those between rasses and religions.

Nowadays the political threat between the superpowers has gone and the world has to deal with completely different problems, ones that the USA alone isn’t able to solve, problems which require the help of other countries like Germany and Europe. Afghanistan needs the help of the world in order to succeed in their fight against the Talliban militia. The heroin they produce back there gets sold in Berlin and other cities later on which is a global problem that the nations have to face.

With united efforts the battle against AIDS will be won one day and the fight againt international terrorism, which Obama sees as a global problem as well. The 9/11 terrorists were trained in Pakistan, lived in Hamburg - right before they came to the US to attack the World Trace Center.

Only by means of united efforts those huge problems can be solved Obama said, and that it needs the effort of all nations around the world to solve the problem of air pollution which slowly destroys our atmosphere.

The audience which consisted of younger people mostly including many americans who live in Berlin, saw some nice and convincing candidate for the presidential election with a great charisma who appeared to be very resolute.

Barack Obama will stay in Berlin tonight without any further meetings on his agenda. Tomorrow, two hours later than it was originally planned, he’ll leave for Paris and London. We wish him all the best on his way to becoming the next president of the United States.

Some impressions of the event by Rik Mayda can be found in the included gallery.