Obama's Berlin Speech Was Political Manna for Progressives

The political pluses of Barack Obama's much-anticipated Berlin speech on July 24, 2008 were many:

• The chance to reinforce his patriotism on the world stage by declaring himself "a proud citizen of the United States" and that "I... know how much I love America."

• The opportunity to demonstrate his foreign policy bona fides by showcasing himself meeting and mingling with key foreign leaders.

• The priceless moment to illustrate, via 200,000 American-flag waving Europeans, that Obama's foreign policies could repair the terrible damage wreaked by the Bush administration on U.S. moral standing in the world community.

Obama accomplished all these goals, which will prove quite useful during the post-convention presidential campaign against John McCain.

(True, the senator from Illinois did occasionally seem a shade too presumptuous during his grand overseas foray, but does anyone believe that a 46-year-old African-American, first-term senator rose to be a presidential candidate without a mega-helping of self-confidence? Get real! )

Bashed by Neocons, Manna for Progressives
As for the substance of the speech, I found it intriguing and extremely revealing... despite Obama's big-picture sentiments being panned by a vocal minority as "boring," "naive," "Disney," and "radical."

Those who called the speech "boring" weren't listening. Those who called the speech "naive" and "Disney" were conservatives who continue to harbor American exceptionalism fantasies and who persist in viewing the world through the angry lens of 20th-century Cold-War paranoia.

When top neocon John Bolton, Bush's hostile former U.N. Ambassador, tagged Obama's Berlin speech as "truly radical from an American perspective," he was absolutely correct. And that's a good thing, although brash Mr. Bolton surely meant it to be a negative.

The first half of Obama's Berlin speech, which he entitled "A World That Stands as One" was of mild interest, at best, and served mainly to set context. Lots of blah-blah-blah boilerplate mixed in with yet another brief telling of his personal story.

The second half of Obama's Berlin speech, though, was near-perfect political manna for progressives battered by the neoconservative mantra of preemptive aggression and power-seeking, fear-mongering American imperialism.

Specifically, Obama identified seven vital security and moral threats of grave world concern that no country or region, alone, can resolve:

• The threat of terrorism and extremism
• The threat of nuclear weapons
• The threat of a Cold War mindset
• The threat of Iran's nuclear ambitions
• The threat of carbon-burning on our environment
• The threat of global trade that benefits only the few
• The threat of ignoring those left behind by globalization

The last threat included an eloquent plea to reject torture, to stand for human rights worldwide, to not repeat the tragedies of Darfur, and to "extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity." (For more, read Barack Obama's Berlin Speech - Full Text.)

Bushian neoconservative-in-chief John Bolton ruminates, "We shall see if this rhetoric follows him back to America, either because he continues to use it or because Sen. John McCain asks voters if this is really what they want from their next president."

Yes, Mr. Bolton, that's EXACTLY what we want in our next president!

(Photo taken in Berlin on July 24, 2008: Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images)

Related Reading

• Obama in Berlin: Terrorism is a Global, Not National, Challenge by Dr. Amy Zalman, About.com's Guide to Terrorism
• 200,000 American Flag Waving Europeans!
• Obama the Statesman vs. Bush the Bully: The Week Obama Became Presidential