So Barack Obama goes overseas last week. At every turn, Obama was speaking about U.S. foreign policy in a way that re-united our allies and forces his opponents to subtly rephrase their positions to sound more like his. Oh yeah, and he shows up in Germany and 200,000 people come out to hear him speak. Can you think of a politican from any country that could draw that kind of crowd in the United States? Maybe the pope could, but he’s not running for anything. Frank Rich of the New York Times explains the mechanics of the trip and its impact on the news and, more important, policy cycles here in America.
While there were 200k people at Obama’s event in Berlin, there was a very popular German band that gave a free concert before his speech. There were also reports that free beer was given out to attendees. The free beer will attract large crowds whether you are in Northern Minnesota or Germany. My guess is that about half the the people at the speech would have showed up had there not been other activities. It’s still an impressive number of people though.
I have a feeling that this trip is going to be looked back at as a major gaffe on Obama’s part. Many people in middle America don’t look at Europe favorably. And the part in one of his speeches (I forget which one) which basically apologized for us “torturing” people was a huge mistake.
I’m not crazy about either major party candidate in this race, but I like Obama less just about every time he opens his mouth.
That’s the same argument that was made when Obama drew 80,000 in Portland, Oregon, that some moderately well known local band was the reason everyone showed up. That’s like saying that everyone in Duluth who went to GW Bush’s campaign rally in 2000 was only going to see the Oak Ridge Boys. Hey, I love the Oak Ridge Boys but not enough to endure a political speech I don’t agree with (In that case I covering the event for my radio station).
On the matter of the trip’s success, I disagree. I think this will be better long term because it shows that Obama is highly functional in the foreign policy aspect of the presidency. Ironically, American elections are often turned on the economy — something presidents can do little about — but presidencies have the most influence on foreign policy. Nixon and Clinton’s memoirs both came to that conclusion.
Anyway, I think those pictures will be worth a 1000 words and now Obama can focus on his economic message without having such a wide gap with McCain on foreign policy. I think most Americans are capable of worrying about the economy and foreign policy at the same time.
Remind me, who’s for torture? Let me rephrase, who’s for torture that isn’t already voting straight-ticket GOP.
I know you have your reservations, Todd, but I think Obama is doing fairly well at handling the double edged criticism. He’s looking forward and showing that he can do the actual job. McCain, despite being considered universally qualified, is acting very angry and backward-looking. USA vs. The World works in figure skating, but not in foreign policy.
Todd,
I had tears in my eyes when I saw American flags waving throughout the crowd. Over the past eight years the majority of Bush’s visits have been accompanied by protests and American flags burning. I am in middle America and it makes me proud to see that Europeans respect our presumptive nominee. And I can’t help but feel that with Barack Obama as president we will be able to make real progress nationally and internationally. To be successful in this world we can’t be isolationist. We have to be able to engage our allies and our enemies in meaningful and productive diplomatic negotiations.