Germany fights over Obama
The U.S. presidential campaign spills over to Europe.
What happened
Word that Barack Obama was looking into giving a speech in front of Berlin’s historic Brandenburg Gate caused a split in Germany’s governing coalition, with Chancellor Angela Merkel suggesting it would be an inappropriate venue for a candidate in the middle of the U.S. presidential race and Vice Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier supporting the idea. (Politico)
What the commentators said
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This flap “is awkward for both sides,” said The Economist’s Certain Ideas of Europe blog. It makes Obama look “naive and insensitive to German sensibilities” just as he’s trying to bolster his foreign policy credentials, but it has also “exposed political fissures” between Merkel’s Christian Democrats and Steinmeier’s Social Democrats, who will face off in 2009 elections.
You can’t really blame Merkel for wanting to avoid taking sides in the heated U.S. election, said Ulf Gartzke in The Weekly Standard’s The Blog. Allowing Obama to speak in a location previously limited to current or former presidents—Reagan’s 1987 “Tear Down This Wall” speech, for example—would create “a politically difficult precedent,” and antagonize John McCain.
If Merkel shouldn’t take sides, it “seems pretty ill-advised” for President Bush to wade in, said Ben Smith in Politico. Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reports that a Bush adviser complained to Merkel’s foreign policy chief about Obama’s planned speech. If true, that would be a “remarkably ham-handed” way of “meddling on McCain’s behalf in Europe.”
Why is anybody surprised by the electoral politics of this? said Gregor Peter Schmitz in Germany’s Der Speigel. As Berlin’s mayor noted, “Merkel herself is well-known for staging her own grand political gestures abroad.” And Colombia’s government went out of its way to make McCain look very presidential on a recent trip there.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Obama's trip will be "a huge event," wherever he speaks, said Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic. He is hugely popular in Germany, and the rest of Europe, and the enormous cheering crowds and “ga-ga” coverage by the European press will resonate with U.S. voters interested in restoring America’s standing abroad—but any gaffe will be magnified, too.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Xi-Biden meeting: what's in it for both leaders?
Today's Big Question Two superpowers seek to stabilise relations amid global turmoil but core issues of security, trade and Taiwan remain
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published