The first thing I did when I heard that Barack Obama was going to be speaking in Berlin was to e-mail our friends who live there. Several years ago, we hosted a bright and beautiful exchange student from Berlin, Lailanie Barthel, who attended Bullard High School for a year. She still keeps in touch with her friends in Fresno, and they've visited each other -- in Australia! We visited Lanie's family in Germany, traveled with them in France, and absolutely fell in love with Berlin. It's such an exciting and dynamic city. And the people are so grateful still to the U.S. for the Berlin Airlift. It's remarkable that decades later it's still fresh for them.
Well, I haven't heard back from our friends yet, but maybe others have friends living there. Pass on their reactions. I'm anxious to hear what they all thought of Obama.
Thanks to Homer Greene over at Fresno City College, who sent me this link to a German publication that seemed to like him overall, but considers him quite idealistic -- not sure if they meant that in a good way or a bad way. .
...i'm starting to think the Bee may endorse a democrat in nov.
Well if you read that entire article, it doesn't entirely support Obama.
Gail I'm glad you put up that German opinion. I too have some international friendships, including my wife who is Australian. I find their views of the United States very interesting and somewhat humbling. Admittedly the international view of us has dropped like a rock in the last 6 years so I can understand the Germans' excitement over the prospect of Obama.
In an interview with a German reporter yesterday, he said if you were to poll Germany, Obama would win by about 70%. That seems to be the case in many other countries around the world as well.
Now... I tried to keep my post here simple and non-combative. Let's see how this thread goes.
I just read the BERLINER
MORGENPOST, I think the long article has 77 photos as well. I wanted to send it to this blog so the Bee's translation software
can translate it. But technically I coud not manage it. By the way; the Germans were greatly impressed by Senator OBAMA.
And after I remembered that I had to click on the underlined within the post,
"SPIEGEL INTERNATIONAL" came up. Interesting item,
but ordinarily I don't care for DER SPIEGEL; though it is very prominent in Germany, but it is too tabloid(ish) for my taste. Perhaps if I were German I would appreciate it more. But if it is true that candidate Obama sees himself as president of the world....
no comment here neither.
And one more appeal. Please, what does URL mean?
Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstall would have loved Obama’s European campaign!
Isabelle,
It stands for Uniform Resource Locator, but put simply, it's an address. Every page, every image, etc. on the internet has a URL. This is how your browser finds that page. Click on an image to enlarge it or whatever, that's another address as well. Everything you click or open or go to has an address.
Is that what you're asking or did I miss it?
News Flash......Whatever Obama does to impress the Germans, means bugger all here in the United States. He went as a private citizen, and was treated like a president, which he is not.
Bottom line, it is a long way to election day and wish everyone would stop trying to act as if the race is over.
MOI has mates in UK and in France as well as in OZ, and can tell you that there are many in the world who do not view Obama in glowing terms.
Are we to be impress that 70% of Germans would vote for Obama? Think not, last time looked they do not have a say in who will become the next president, like tell us that 82% of Brits love sweets, so what and what has that got to do with AMERICAN VOTERS and thier vote.
Has been reported that Obama is getting far too much press compared to McCain, not even handed at all. How fair is that?
One must remember that the press can turn on a dime, and what Obama enjoys today, could well turn into nasty stories tomorrow.
Maybe Obama should have tossed chocolates out of plane window, making Germans recall the Airlift, them he would have had 100% of the German vote.
Lead MOI to the loo, am going to be sick over all of this Obama sucking up going on.
It just goes to show eveyone, that the world would like to see our foreign policy go in the right direction.
I do not think the world really cares what political party, ethnic race, etc... Obama is, anymore then we know the internal politics of Germany (for example).
In one of my classes in Upper Division German, I saw older German films that were classics...like the 1921 film NOSFERATU (a Dracula plot) but none of the Leni Riefenstahl films. I don't know what she looked like, but I know how to spell her name
correctly. That is because I have more than just manipulative ill will
between my ears.
Contrary to T.C. Morgan's claim, Riefenstahl would not have loved Obama's
campaign. The Nazis were racists of the first magnitude. There is an old saying in German as well as in Russian: Had you kept silent, we could have thought you to be wise.
And if Senator Obama can manage to wipe out the US image of war mongers and torturers, more power to him. And his being president shall be up to the American voter. It is not going to be decided in Berlin, London, Paris or
Vienna.
I agree Isabelle. And for the record, I mentioned the 70% favoritism assuming that everyone here would be able to make the connection of what that may mean in terms of foreign affairs. Suggesting that they have a say in who our next president will be is a little silly to say the least.
MOI is well ahead of most in Fresno, having lived and worked in UK, Paris and other Eurpean cities.
It is easy for members of the world community to call American 'war monger and torturers' at the same time expecting the American people to be the policeman to the world. Gobsmacked that some Americans hold that same view of themselves.
Were we 'war mongers' when we gave American blood to fight for justice in WWI? Were we 'war mongers' when we fought and died in large numbers to free the enslaved peoples of Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Holland and other countries?
Tell the older folks in London who lived in terror of bombs falling on London, night after night, forcing them to seek shelter in the tube stations?
Were we 'torturers' when American liberated the concentration camps and locked up and tried and hanged the Nazis who have wiped millions and millions of people off the face of the earth?
At 61, MOI remembers well the days of the Vietnam War and how the tide of public opinion turned and the war was ended. Are we to call the 58,000 plus names on the WALL in Washington DC, the names of 'war mongers and torturers'?
First hand knowledge of folks in Europe, which comes from speaking multiple languages and having lived on the same scale as them, has given MOI a look at what the world sees when they look at America., and at times their opinion is not flattering.
It is the promised land to many, it is still possible to come to this country, legally, and do better than back in Europe and UK. Why? Perhaps due to the fact that for the most part one can rise to a high level without regard to class one comes from. ALL wh apply themselves can achieve great thing. Barack Obama is a perfect example of that.
With all of this interest in a 'private trip' to Europe by Obama, am mre interested in the story read that stated that Obama has won over the Starbucks crowd, but will need to win over the Dunk-n-Donuts crowd if he is to be the next president of these United States.
MOI will tell you true, in 4 years he will depart Fresno and return to UK and live out his days in a country that still appreciates the contributions that an old geezer can make to society, and that is saying a lot coming for a member of an American Family that goes back to the founding of New Amsterdam and who had relative fight in the War of Independance, the whole period of that war.
Save MOI from Americans too lazy to vote, too complacent to make a change in communities lived but will armchair crow about how grand a relative newcomer to the world stage will be as president.
Mark MOI down in the column for another old geezer who spent YEARS as a prisoner of war, suffered much personal 'torture' and still continued to dedicate his life to serving the needs of his fellow citizens.
MIND, a certain lady on here probably thought that Ronald Reagan was 'out to lunch' as President, and did not play a huge part in ending the Cold War(without a shot fired) and getting the Berlin Wall torn down.
If the German poll would have come up with a 100% approval rate, it still would not change current
U.S. foreign policy. Who would author it? Who would implement it?
To believe that it could have influence....that would be idealistic in the sense of unrealistic.
And I would not try to go into the head of the German
reporter who categorized Senator Obama idealistic. That's a no no that could come back to haunt.
idealistic. That’s a no no
that could come back to haunt.
T.C. wrote:
"Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstall would have loved Obama’s European campaign!"
What are you talking about?
Do you take yourself seriously? Inflamatory remarks bankrupt your credibility.
Being a self proclaimed "Biblical Conservative" would you believe a news headline about someone walking on water, and coming back from the dead?
when Obama puffed up and declared his bold intention to fulfill the promise of the bush/cheney endless war-on-terror, i cringed, it could have been Mccain giving that speech. I think the Germans, like the Americans, are in the, "anybody but them" camp...no pun intended.
As I was traveling to Monterey I heard Obama trying to talk to Sarkozy and I would be embarrassed to have the bumbling, plsgerizing dude for our president even though it is likely to happen. If that is the way he talks under pressure how will he handle other situations. I am frightened of what promises he may be making in foreign lands.
I was impressed that McCain said he would want to visit the other countries as president not as a candidate for president as it is pointed out they don't get to vote. The downfall being if promises are made they can connect with their relatives who may live here to sway votes.
Apparently "RICH" does not read a post signed Isabell
Lawson, because had he, he
would know that the correct spelling of the name is Riefenstahl. Just an irrelevant trivia.
It is amazing that so many people think the president is omnipotent. He can promise ice water to the people in hell; but it's up to Congress whether they'll get it.
America can easily survive a lousy president for, obviously, we are still around, several times over. But We the People are in serious trouble with a legislator that is suffering from inertia.
And how do they get to Capital Hill? Via the ballot box. Right?
Back in May, the media was ecstatic over the size of the crowd in Portland, Oregon -- and led us to believe they gathered there JUST to hear the words of Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama -- and conveniently chose not to report the free concert given before his speech?
Well, our so-called professional media cads have repeated this disgraceful journalism in Berlin. As was the case in Portland, before the presumptive Democrat nominee spoke to the huge crowd in Berlin Thursday, two popular German acts -- reggae artist Patrice and rock band Reamonn -- entertained the gathering audience. This time though, he really pulled out the stops, and served free beer and food. Free contemporty music, beer, and food will bring out the youth crowd in any country, especially German youths, who were instrumental in electing Adolf Hitler. They loved his promises of handouts (social programs galore), and environmentalism (an early PETA and tree-hugger movement was rampant among German youth at that time).
No wonder Obama failed on his pledge to stay with public financing of his campaign--that plan would have put the screws to his free stuff, propoganda tours and appearances at home and abroad.
Mature Americans are already sick of the disengenuous antics of this empty suit politician, and the media who are perpetrating his lies for him. We also despise those who fly around the world dissing their own country. The latest polls are proof in the pudding, showing McCain is up 6-7 points this week.
Isabelle,
I wanted to comment on your irrelevant trivia.
If you check out my comment, it was TC's quote, so he did not spell the name correctly.
MOI wonders if the lady in the padded computer room feels as strongly about the DWARFS on City Council, and how they muck up the City of Fresno.
Need MOI remind the lovely lady that 'all politics is local' and what we have in Fresno is 'a failure to communicate' between the DWARFS on City Council and WE THE PEOPLE, but then, it is so much easier to pull hair out and scream about Washington, they are too far removed from that padded computer room to notice.
That certain lady wished that her computer room as well as her entire
house were padded, while writing a four hundred dollar + check to PG & E
I dragged my husband (his thing is golf) to see the post. He laughed
and found that (in his opinion) MOI belonged in a padded cell.
"Rich" I am sorry it was a direct quote from TC in your post. I should never have overlooked that.
mea maxima culpa
Isabell Lawson
My dear, there are many in Fresno that would agree with your husband. Hardly think that ODD qualifies MOI for a padded room.
Moving right along......if you truly do write a check for that amount of cash to PG&E, MOI not only think it daft, but will save a place right next to in padded room as have no doubt that the screams must be heard through out the neighborhood.
Bloody hell, who uses that much electric per month, MOI does not, loves to not light a match to cash to the lovely folks at PG&E.
Hmmmmmmmmm, but then you would not want nuclear power either, so there is no room to wiggle in that padded room. Come to think on perhaps there is a little night time gardening going on, fess up, a little 'pot' along with the screams?
Right, that is a silly, and hope that no one truly thinks that a lovely lady would enhale anything while banging away on the keyboard.
Four hundred plus on your PG&E bill? Gads, your frivilous energy habits are going to require that you start buying someone elses carbon credits. Or if BO is elected, he can send a secret police, brown shirts he told us he plans to create, over to your place to make sure your thermostat is set at 80 degrees.
Jusy as people like to blame Bush and Autry for the failings of the country and city I agree with Isabel that it is congress that has the power to make changes as well as the City Council. These elected officials have long ago dropped the ball and are slithering around like snakes doing nothing to pick it up and do what is needed to make the changes to turn around everything they have done. Its a pass the blame society.
"redpeach"
Has it ever occurred to you that sometimes a high power bill is due
to health maintenance. Would you, redpeach, back then, during the
height of polio, let those on iron lungs die because it used up a lot of electricity? Or intimate that they were lawbreakers?
I believe that the beehive blog had been created to give people to stay in contact (via-email) to discuss matters of communality.
It has been a privilege for me to exchange opinions and ideas with
(in alphabetic order) Jackie Krage, Rich, Scot and Swift. But right
now I have enough of it. Perhaps I shall read you again, away from those who delight in poisonous posts.
Isabell
You do plenty of rock throwing and sarcasm yourself. You are not above any of the things you accuse others of.
The carbon credits and Brown Shirts comments were meant as sarcasm, as I think both are ludacrous ideas, and give Big Brother way too much power. I would think in your situation, you would be opposed to this type of government intrusion, as well.
If you have a medical situation at home, I am sorry for that, and I apoligise. I hope you can also appreciate that my post was not meant to be cruel. And obviously could only have been if I were privy to your personal life . . .which I am not.
My understanding is that blogs are meant as a place of debate over issues, not only for those like mind. Kind of like America the beautiful.
At the risk of sounding horrid, it is unfair to be so rough on one who was clueless as to what the nature of your disability was.
Clever as you are, you failed to give a hint that the high bill mught be due to a cause beyond your control.
Along with Redpeach, MOI too, made light of the matter, so assme MOI in one of the 'poisonous posts' you rant about.
MOI has found that folks tend to post on these things due to wanting to be read, and along with that lust for readership comes the risk that one will make some folks remark in a fashion one does not like.
Sorry Ms. Lawson feels that only the ones she likes are of any value. Redpeach may not say many things MOI is comfy about, but he or she, is one of the reason MOI reads and adds posts.
Sorry Ms. Lawson feels the need to go into hiding.
PS - Having had mates in the days of old get polio, it was a very mean and unkind point you used to attack.
RobDeFrees
I am not sure who your PS was addressing, but if it is me, please re-read the posts. I did not attack Isabell about an ill loved one.
I was making a sarcastic joke about her high energy bill--regarding carbon credits, etc. There wasn't any posted info about an ill loved one, until Isabell later resumed the conversation after my post. Then she made me out to be the bad guy, as if I already knew her personal home situation.
Speaking of mean and unkind, there was that post about a rubber room.