By Nile Gardiner
When John F. Kennedy delivered his “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate on June 26, 1963, 450,000 people flocked to hear him.
Fifty years later a far more subdued invitation-only crowd of 4,500
showed up to hear Barack Obama speak at the same location in Berlin. As The National Journal noted,
“he didn’t come away with much, winning just a smattering of applause
from a crowd that was one-hundredth the size of JFK’s,” and far smaller
than the 200,000 boisterous Germans who had listened to his 2008 address
as a presidential candidate. JFK had a clear message when he came to
Berlin a half century ago – the free world must stand up to Communist
tyranny. 24 years later, President Reagan stood in the same spot
famously calling on the Soviets to “tear down this wall.” Reagan’s
speech was a seminal moment that ushered in the downfall of an evil
empire, and gave hope to tens of millions of people behind the Iron
Curtain. It was a display of strength and conviction by the leader of
the free world, sending an unequivocal message of solidarity with those
who were fighting for freedom in the face of a monstrous totalitarian
ideology.
In stark contrast to that of his presidential predecessors, Barack Obama’s message on Wednesday was
pure mush, another clichéd “citizens of the world” polemic with little
substance. This was a speech big on platitudes and hopeless idealism,
while containing much that was counter-productive for the world’s
superpower. Ultimately it was little more than a laundry list of Obama’s
favourite liberal pet causes, including cutting nuclear weapons,
warning about climate change, putting an end to all wars, shutting
Guantanamo, ending global poverty, and backing the European Project. It
was a combination of staggering naiveté, the appeasement of America’s
enemies and strategic adversaries, and the championing of more big
government solutions.
There
was little in this speech that advances US interests, or makes the
world a safer place. Completely missing from Obama’s address was a call
for the West to stand up to the rising threat of Islamist militancy, the
defence of Christians facing huge levels of persecution and
intimidation in the Middle East, strong condemnation of Iran and North
Korea’s nuclear ambitions, and any criticism of growing authoritarianism
in Russia. The president paid lip service to the NATO alliance, which
has proved critical in preserving Europe’s security for over 60 years,
but made no call for the alliance to be strengthened in the wake of
waning support and investment in Europe.
President
Obama’s words may well have pleased his German government hosts,
content to see a United States whose ambitions as a military power have
been significantly clipped since George W. Bush left office in 2009. But
Barack Obama underscored again why he is no JFK or Ronald Reagan. In
front of the Brandenburg Gate, Obama sounded more like the president of
the European Commission than the leader of the free world. It is never a
good sign when a US president parrots the language of a Brussels
bureaucrat when he is supposed to be a champion of freedom. Obama’s
distinctly unimpressive speech in Berlin was another dud from a
floundering president whose leadership abroad is just as weak as it is
at home.
@ChuckTodd blames Obama’s bomb in Berlin on the heat.
Obama’s Berlin speech on 19 June 2013: 86°F
Obama’s Berlin speech on 28 July 2008: 91°F
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