July 24: Obama in Berlin

This afternoon I convinced Mohsen to come with me to watch the speech that Barack Obama was going to give on the Straße des 17. Juni. As an Iranian, he follows his foreign policy proposals closely and, understandably, with suspicion.

From what we saw upon arriving, two things stood out: first, the immense crowd gathered at the “hot spots” along the avenue — that is, around the TV screens and, of course, the stage from which the candidate would whip up the masses. The avenue was absolutely packed and it was very difficult to move. The second detail was the extensive security measures deployed by the police for Obama — so extensive that Spreeweg, a side street off the main avenue, was reserved exclusively for him.

Where is Mohsen?

There’s not much to say about the speech itself (for the first time, dear readers — that is, Ana, Rosalía, Dad and Mom — I’m going to talk about politics). Obama was aware that his speech had to be seasoned with phrases that sounded historic, because that was the point of the event: to emulate the historic speeches given by U.S. presidents in the second half of the twentieth century (despite the fact that Angela Merkel did not allow him to deliver it at the Brandenburg Gate).

He tried by beginning many sentences with “Citizens of Berlin, citizens of the world,” or “Now is the time to…”. He also attempted to charm the audience with phrases like “People of the world: look at Berlin. Look at Berlin when it did this, look at Berlin when it did that, look at Berlin…”. The crowd applauded enthusiastically, even though Berliners are tired of outsiders constantly reminding them of their history.

At first, he spoke about abstract values such as freedom and democracy in a way that made you want to laugh — or throw up . But soon his speech began to sound like that of a candidate for president of the Land of Lollipops: no more nuclear weapons, peace among cultures, human rights are cool (read these lines in a political speech tone, stretching out the endings). It sounded nice, but hearing it from an American politician made it grate on the ears. Obama tried to fix this by adding another history-flavored phrase: “I am aware that my country has made mistakes…” (when he said this, half the avenue began clapping sarcastically, but the applause quickly faded, as if it had broken the rhythm set by his campaign advisers).

People with hopes in Obama

People with (great) hopes in Obama

All in all, it was interesting to listen to the man of the moment (60% of those present were clearly there for that reason — you could tell by watching them spend euros on campaign T-shirts and badges). He didn’t disappoint those expecting a historic speech, but honestly: it was an empty speech, without concrete proposals or commitments. If you don’t take risks, it’s easy to make beautiful speeches.

Edit: the full speech is available here.