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Barack in Berlin

Let's contrast the recent visits of two American politicians to the Federal Republic of Germany ... First, here's a snapshot (courtesy of the Associated Press) of Barack Obama's speech in Berlin:

Second, a smaller image of the reception the President received when he landed in Germany (courtesy of Der Spiegel):

While not conclusive, I'd say, at least, anecdotally, that these two pictures, juxtaposed, represent (Old) Europe's preference in terms of which candidate, & more generally, which political party, they'd like to see (back) in power in Washington.

Now, I will say that, as a proud American, I don't bow to foreigners, nor do I like to be told what to think by those outside of this country. But it is important for America, as a leader in the world, to be respected & admired by our allies in Europe, & the notion that 200,000 mostly non-Americans were waving American Flags during Barack's speech simply takes my breath away, & should make us all think.

Also, I think the state of our relations with Europe, what I like to call the George W. Bush meets Michael Scott school of foreign policy ("Would I rather be feared or loved? Um ... Easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me."), is defunct, & perhaps we need to explore a more equal friendship with the major European powers (as well as the rest of the world).

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July 25th, 2008 9:48am
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It irritates me

Submitted by Craig Berger on Fri, 2008-07-25 18:23.

.. to see McCain's campaign and so many other prominent political commentators sow so much fear and resentment toward other cultures by using Obama's "global citizen" talk against him.

I guess I take solace in the fact that it smacks of desperation, but come on.

And it just serves us more notice that conservatives just don't get the Millennial Generation -- the most multicultural generation in the history of this country.

Totally

Submitted by Geoffrey M Golia on Sat, 2008-07-26 09:10.

There's a funny little history, by the way, to this notion of "global citizenship" or "globalism", which is rooted in the old conspiracy mongering from the radical right-wing, from the John Birch Society to today's so-called paleo-conservatives ... Those who buy into the conspiracy nonsense, & even those who don't buy the whole conspiracy meta-narrative but fear America "losing her sovereignty", often like to hit liberals & progressive (those who understand the need for global cooperation because, you know, we share a planet together ...) as trying to undermine American independence through their internationalism.

So I sort of see this as a way to court those right-wingers who have the bumper-stickers that say, for instance, "U.S. out of the UN", you know? And, you're right, for McCain, the "Maverick Moderate", that is desperation ...

Do me a favor & take a look at two videos (probably still on google). One is from the 90s & comes to us from Phyllis Schlafly's "eagle Forum", about, among other things, the UN Global Biodiversity Treaty ... it's called "Global Governance: The Quiet War Against American Independence". Look for John Ashcroft in this one ... The other is a Global Warming denial video called, "Global Warming or Global Governance?", which implies that "elites" are pushing global warming in order to create an internationalist New World Order ... Never underestimate the conspiratorial nature of the right-wing ...

Vote Republican? I'm not rich enough, & I don't hate all that many people ...