Obama's Berlin Speech Posted by Michael Cohen

Over at the New York Times.com I had a few thoughts on Obama's Berlin speech that hopefully will be of interest to DA readers:

Few places hold as much symbolic power for presidential speechmaking as Berlin. So it’s little surprise that Barack Obama chose this city for his first major foray onto the global stage.

But if the West was united in 1963 when John F. Kennedy offered a lacerating indictment of communism and in 1987 when Ronald Reagan demanded that Mikhail Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall, today the trans-Atlantic alliance is teetering, with genuine and serious divisions between Europe and the United States.

To bridge these fissures, Mr. Obama returned to the same language he has used to try to bridge the partisan divide in America. In fact, his first major overseas speech on Thursday was not dissimilar to the ones he delivered in high school gymnasiums and town hall meetings in the United States. As a reflection of his call for post-partisan politics, it was classic Barack Obama.

Back during the Democratic primaries, it was more than a message of change that spurred Mr. Obama’s political rise, it was his vision of a united America coming together to solve common challenges — a call reminiscent of Ronald Reagan’s pledge nearly 30 years ago to “make America great again.” Indeed, Mr. Obama’s message then was as much about bridging the divisions between blue-state and red-state America as it was about his policy prescriptions for providing universal health care or fixing a broken economy. In Berlin, he took this nonpartisan populist message and repackaged it for the rest of the world.

During the last few months, Mr. Obama has strayed somewhat from these themes, focusing more on the back and forth of daily politics and less on what George H. W. Bush deridingly called the “vision thing.” But it returned with a vengeance yesterday in the German capital.

Read the rest here.

Comments

[Peace]

The nice thing about Obama's speech is that it seems he wants America to open up to the world again and not be so isolated. After basically eight years of bashing the Europeans in this contry, it nice to see a politicain that is willing to treat the European nations as equals in a common partnership. Another aspect of the speech that I liked was when Obama mentioned that he would abandon the Cold War mindset that seems to govern our reltionship with Russia. By being on friendly grounds with the Russians maybe the US could receive their assistence with such issues such as Afghanistan and Iran's nuclear program.

[Frederick William Dame]

Frederick William Dame

(Dr. rer. pol.; Dr. Phil.; D. Litt.)

Political Scientist, Philologist, Literatus,
Diploma in Cultural Relations,
MA Eng., MS Ed., MA Int. Rel., BA Pol. Sci.,
Academician, Comparativist, Educator,
Technological and Cultural Historian,
Universal Consultant

28 July 2008

F.W.Dame@web.de

SUBJECT: An Exposé of Barack Hussein Obama’s Berlin Speech delivered on 24 July 2008.

To Whom It May Concern

I followed the Barack Hussein Obama Show in Berlin on 24 July 2008. I cringed for shock when I heard the speech. I cringed with more shock when I followed the reporting, heard how enthralled the news media was, and how the person-on the-street was enraptured with what Barack Hussein Obama spoke. All of them elevated Barack Hussein Obama into the heaven, from whence he arrived.

I was and am appalled that the German citizen, the American voter, the American media, indeed, the Democratic Party have allowed Barack Hussein Obama to pull the wool over their eyes.

I became so disappointed that I decided to write an exposé of the speech and show that Barack Hussein Obama is a charlatan. Barack Hussein Obama’s speech proves the fact.

I send my exposé results to you for your information. Consider the paper a learning experience. The italics is what Barack Hussein Obama said. The thick print is my commentary.

I allow you use the content in any manner you may see fit.

Respectfully,

Frederick William Dame

An Exposé of the Content and Rhetoric of
Barack Hussein Obama’s Speech
A World That Stands as One
As Prepared For Delivery
Berlin, Germany
July 24th, 2008
Barack Hussein Obama’s Statement
Comment
A World That Stands as One
 As one what? The speaker really means united and should have said such.
 Thank you for what? For accepting Barack Hussein Obama as a visitor? Barack Hussein Obama requested, even begged, to come to Berlin. If Barack Hussein Obama came as a visitor, then there was no need to ask permission.
thank you for this welcome.
 CONTENT: Inexact. Who is/are you? The audience?
Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome.
 This is too wordy. It could have been stated in a simpler way. Furthermore, saying citizens leaves out all of the foreigners living in Berlin, including Americans!

 I thank the people of Berlin. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister, Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police and my audience for welcoming me today
I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before.
 Never use a preposition to end a sentence with!

 CONTENT: The overall great majority of Americans who come/came to Berlin are/were either business persons or tourists. They do/did not come as politicians and they do/did not ask if they can/could come.

Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen, a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.

 CONTENT: I speak to you not as a candidate for President is an empty phrase. This statement is not the truth! Has Barack Hussein Obama suddenly decided not to candidate? If Barack Hussein Obama has not come as a presidential candidate, then why all of the fuss?

 CONTENT: Empty phrase. There is really no such person as a citizen of the world. There is no legal term recognizing this status. Citizens belong to countries, to nations. We are citizens of different nations of the world. There is no logic and no legality in the statement. Being a lawyer, Barack Hussein Obama should know this.

 Citizen of the world reminds me of the statement by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the Communist Manifesto: “Workers of the world unite.”

I know that I don‘t look like the Americans who‘ve previously spoken in this great city.

 GRAMMAR: Proper public speeches do not use contractions.

 CONTENT: Is this a reference to Barack Hussein Obama’s being Afro-American? There are many Afro-Americans who have spoken in Berlin. They are too numerous to mention. They include actors, actresses, politicians, businesspersons, sportspersons, etc. Is this an indication of an identity crisis?
The journey that led me here is improbable.
 Improbable is the wrong word. No journey is improbable. A better statement is: a long one.

 A journey does not lead. Reasons and principles lead. Journeys bring something!
My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father, my grandfather, was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.
 CONTENT: Is Barack Hussein Obama implying that Barack Hussein Obama is different? My father was a machine worker. My mother was a cleaning woman. My grandfather was a lumberjack. My great-grandfather herded cows, goats, and pigs, and had hens. Barack Hussein Obama’s heritage is no different from mine or millions of others.

 What else could Barack Hussein Obama’s father’s father be except Barack Hussein Obama’s grandfather?
At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning his dream required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West.
 CONTENT: This is a false statement at the beginning. The Cold War started shortly after WWII when in November of 1945 a communist-supported uprising broke out in Azerbaijan. In January 1946 the Prime Minister Qavan protested to the UN Security Council. The firm stance of the US government that supported the Iran position caused the Soviets to withdraw their forces in May 1946 and the rebellion was quashed in December, 1946. This is considered to be the start of the Cold War. The term COLD WAR was coined by Bernard Baruch in a congressional debate in 1947. If we consider this the starting year and 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall as the ending year, then the Cold War lasted 42 years. I do not know when Obama Sr. arrived in Hawaii to study at the university. Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu in August 1952. So Barack Hussein Obama’s father must have arrived no later than 1951. That was only four years into the Cold War. 1951 was surely not the height of the Cold War. That came much later and many experts disagree on the exact years.

 Height of the Cold War is an empty phrase in this context.

 GRAMMAR: yearning his is improper English. One does not yearn something, one yearns for something.

 CONTENT: Why were the corners forgotten? I attended grade school in 1952 and I knew where the African countries were.

 Forgotten corners is an empty phrase.

 CONTENT: West. As far as I know Barack Hussein Obama’s father was interested in attending an American university only. West is misleading.
And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.
 CONTENT: Prayer. Did Barack Hussein Obama’s father make prayers (5 times a day?) or did he apply for university admission? If he prayed, to whom did he pray? God, Allah, the University of Hawaii? The statement is religiously overloaded.
That is why I‘m here.
 CONTENT: Logic! Is Barack Hussein Obama in Berlin because Barack Hussein Obama’s father yearned for a better life or because Barack Hussein Obama’s father prayed? Barack Hussein Obama came to Berlin not as a politician? Barack Hussein Obama came to Berlin as a presidential candidate? Barack Hussein Obama came to Berlin because of the father’s prayer?
And you are here because you too know that yearning.
 CONTENT: The statement is suggestive and unfounded. I suspect that more than 90% of those who were in the audience do not have that type of yearning. They are already in the West.

 GRAMMAR: The punctuation is wrong. It should be … , too, …

This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom.
 CONTENT: This is hyperbole. Moreover it is an inaccurate statement. It excludes all other cities in the world that would like freedom: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Peking, Colombo, Rangoon, etc.
And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.
 CONTENT: Struggle, sacrifice. The use of this word belittles the real fact of history that the struggle was really a war and the sacrifice was the sacrificing of human life.
Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof.
 CONTENT: Templehof is spelled incorrectly. The first American plane did not land at the Tempelhof Airfield in 1948. The first landing of an American plane was immediately after the close of World War II, at least 2-3 years before 1948.

On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin.
 CONTENT: On that day only?
The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall.
 CONTENT: By the time the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, the rubble had been removed from at least West Berlin. Moreover, the Berlin Wall was not built out of rubble. It was built out of concrete blocks.

 CONTENT: Historical inaccuracy par excellence. In connection with what follows about the Berlin Blockade, the underlying tone and insinuation is that the Berlin Blockade and the Berlin Wall are one and the same historical occurrence.
The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade.
 CONTENT: All of this happened on that day of the airplane landing?

 CONTENT: Ponder means consider, deliberate. There was no need to ponder. The fact is that in the West, America, England, France, and even the Soviet Union, as well as other countries, had already decided upon a course of action for a better world with the founding of the United Nations in 1945. They did not want to remake the world. They wanted to make the living conditions and the political existence of nations safer and better.

 USAGE: The use of remade is really Barack Hussein Obama’s emphasis on change and the insinuation that only Barack Hussein Obama is able to execute change.
This is where the two sides met.
 CONTENT: Too ambiguous. What two sides? The United States of America and the Soviet Union? Western Europe and Eastern Europe? The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic? Communists and Anti-Communists? East Berlin citizens and West Berlin citizens? Or just those who happened to stand on one side vis-à-vis those who happened to stand on the other side?

 Furthermore, did the two sides, whoever they were, meet, or did they stand off?
And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city.
 CONTENT: Now Barack Hussein Obama retreats in the historical sequence.

 CONTENT: The Communists is too inclusive. The Soviet Union (Communists) as the occupying power chose to blockade the western part of Berlin.

 USAGE: Leave out and because it misleads the audience into thinking that the Berlin Blockade and the Berlin Wall are the same.
They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.
 CONTENT: Historical inaccuracy. The reason for the Berlin Blockade was not to “extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.” The Berlin Blockade was the Soviet Union’s reaction to the currency reform and the introduction of the German Mark in the west. The goal of the Soviet Union was to stop the establishment of a West German state and to force the other three Allied Occupying Powers out of Berlin.

 CONTENT: The Berlin Blockade cut off the ground transportation, not food and supplies. They could be delivered by air. This is what happened.
The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army
 CONTENT: The statement is misleading. Does Barack Hussein Obama's use of our mean the United States of America Forces alone? Barack Hussein Obama suggests this but Barack Hussein Obama does not say this. In reality Barack Hussein Obama does not understand the historical situation at the time. It is this: Because of the Allied Agreement on the Four Power Status (1945), American British, and French troops had occupied their given sectors in July of 1945. By the time of the Berlin Blockade these three occupying forces stood vis-à-vis the Soviet Union sector. It is these three Allied forces that is the our.
And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe.
 GRAMMAR: And yet is bad usage. The sentence should begin with Retreat …
Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun
 CONTENT: Historical inaccuracy. It is not the last war, but World War II. There were other wars going on in the world after the collapse of the Third Reich and at the post-WWII-era that Barack Hussein Obama refers: The Arab-Israeli War of 1948-1949; The Communist Revolt in Malaysia in1948-1949; Kashmir in 1948, etc. My goodness! Barack Hussein Obama does not know history!
All that stood in the way was Berlin.
 CONTENT: Inaccurate statement. Berlin did not stand in the way. The Allied Occupation powers and the forming government of West Germany stood in the way. Berlin did not even have a meaning as a capital city at the time. Berlin was not partitioned until November 1948.
And that‘s when the airlift began; when the largest and most unlikely rescue in history brought food and hope to the people of this city.
 CONTENT: The time element is too ambiguous. Does Barack Hussein Obama mean the day when the first American airplane landed at the Tempelhof airport, or does Barack Hussein Obama mean June 24, 1948, when the Soviets started the blockade of Berlin?

 USAGE: largely, unlikely. Exaggeration that insinuates that the Airlift might not be successful.

 CONTENT: Historical inaccuracy. The Berlin Blockade really began on 22 June 1948. The Airlift Operation started on 26 June with the mobilization of Western Allied military aircraft. By 30 September the airfields had been enlarged by the Berlin civilians so that the large military aircraft could land.
The odds were stacked against success.
 CONTENT: Not really! The statement is misleading. According to the military governor of the American Occupation Zone, General Lucius D. Clay, who initiated the Airlift, and the airlift pilots, there was no other alternative but success.
In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies.
 CONTENT: Fog the whole winter? This is an idiot statement.

 CONTENT: …without dropping off needed supplies. As far as I know some food supplied were parachuted in bad weather. I know of none that flew back (to Frankfurt am Main) with full loads. If any reader knows about airlift planes returning to Frankfurt fully loaded with their cargo, then I would appreciate the information.
The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold. But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up.
 CONTENT: What are Berliners? Berliners are (jelly-filled) doughnuts without a hole. The Berliner population and the three Allied Occupying Powers did not relent.

 GRAMMAR: Never use a preposition to end a sentence with! give up what? Their hopes!
And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city‘s mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom.
 USAGE: Delete and. Delete here. CONTENT: Barack Hussein Obama is not at the Tiergarten. Barack Hussein Obama is at the Victory Column. Delete fall and use autumn.

 CONTENT: The city mayor was Ernst Reuter. He became mayor in November 1948.

 CONTENT: I do not know how many people were present at Ernst Reuter’s speech. I highly suspect that hundreds of thousands is an exaggeration par excellence.
There is only one possibility, he said. For us to stand together united until this battle is won. The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world: now do your duty. People of the world, look at Berlin!
 CONTENT: These are not the exact words of Ernst Reuter. These are Barack Hussein Obama’s words that do not reflect the content of Reuter’s speech, except for the last two sentences.
People of the world look at Berlin!
 USAGE: The statement is in imperative (command) form. The implication is: Do what I tell you to do!
Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.
 CONTENT: The trust lasted until the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and the Foreign Minister Joseph Fischer broke it in 2002-2003.
Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle; where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.
 CONTENT: Historical inaccuracy. The German miracle for Germans is the social market economy introduced by the German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard. This miracle was not created in Berlin. It was created in Bonn and executed throughout the Federal Republic of Germany.
 CONTENT: The sentence portion suggests that the Marshall Plan was for Germany only. The Marshall Plan is officially the European Economic Recovery Program. It was not only intended for Germany.

 CONTENT: Historical inaccuracy and a totally false association! The victory of the Berlin Airlift, and thereby the “victory over tyranny” did not give rise to NATO. The historical fact is that NATO was founded in 4 April, 1949. The Berlin Blockade did not end until 12 May 1949, a month later.
Look at Berlin, where the bullet holes in the buildings and the somber stones and pillars near the Brandenburg Gate insist that we never forget our common humanity.
 CONTENT: Somber. The word means dark, gloomy. I have seen these stones. A better word would have been stolid, impressive. They are not dark . They are not gloomy. Evidently Barack Hussein Obama does not know anything about the subject.
People of the world, look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.
 CONTENT: A continent did not come together in Berlin. The European Union, if this is what Barack Hussein Obama is alluding to, came together in Strasbourg, Brussels, Bonn, Scheveningen, and other European cities, but not in Berlin!
Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again
 CONTENT: Called upon by whom and for what?
History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril
 CONTENT: History does not lead to anywhere. Superb and inept politicians lead to new promises and new peril.

 CONTENT: The word new promises alludes to Barack Hussein Obama’s penchant for riding the word change. Barack Hussein Obama cannot call for change in Berlin. Therefore, Barack Hussein Obama uses the word new.
When you, the German people, tore down that wall , a wall that divided East and West; freedom and tyranny; fear and hope walls came tumbling down around the world.
 CONTENT: … walls came tumbling down around the world. The walls in Tibet and Myanmar (Burma) also?
From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened.
 CONTENT: Barack Hussein Obama does not know Kiev.
Markets opened too, and the spread of information and technology reduced barriers to opportunity and prosperity. While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.
The fall of the Berlin Wall brought new hope. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers, dangers that cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean.
The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil.
 Comment: Except for the content inaccuracies, the whole section is a repetition of policy statements made by Hilary Clinton, John McCain, and other unsuccessful candidates for the American presidency. They are not Barack Hussein Obama’s views on policy. As a matter of fact, I ask: What are Barack Hussein Obama’s views? Barack Hussein Obama’s speeches always contain material collected and collated from other sources than Barack Hussein Obama .

 CONTENT: closeness. What is the closeness here? The historical closeness? The emotional closeness? The geographical closeness?

 CONTENT: an ocean. How many oceans has the world?
As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.
 CONTENT: There is more CO2 pollution in Chicago than is caused by automobiles in Boston. It is not felt because the winds from Canada blow it elsewhere.

 CONTENT: CO2 pollution is only one cause of the environmental change. CONTENT: Drought from Kansas to Kenya. Kansas and Kenya have always experienced drought even before the recordings of it in the 20th century.
Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris.
 CONTENT: … secrets from a scientist. What kind of scientist? This is an attempt at alliteration. What is meant is the efforts of a nuclear scientist.
The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin.
 CONTENT: Do not blame Afghanistan. Blame the idiots who think they need to use heroine, regardless of where they are located.
The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow
 CONTENT: The situation is just the opposite. Terror breeds violence and poverty!
The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all.
 CONTENT: shames the conscience of us all. All in this sense means all of the people, all of the people in the world. Now the genocide in Darfur does not bother the conscience of Robert Mugabe, the Sudanese government, the Arab countries who support the Sudanese and surely not China, a country that regularly delivers/delivered weapons to the Sudanese government.
In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. Yet, in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth. And if we‘re honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny.
In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe‘s role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth: that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.
Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more, not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.
 These statements are essentially the same as the ones made by John McCain in the spring, with the exception that John McCain is more exact. The statement is so general that it can be supported by almost every political party of every political color.

 USAGE: we’re honest. We are honest.

 CONTENT: drifted apart. The drift was caused from one direction only, the European direction.

 CONTENT: deride and deny. The statement is too ambiguous. What voices in America deride and deny? The ultra right and the WASPS, of course. But no one can really take them seriously.

 CONTENT: sacrifice. This is too condescending! It is too weak! The correct wording is fight for freedom. The sacrifice is the willingness to be patriotic and possibly give up one’s life for the principles of the American Republic

 CONTENT: change of leadership in Washington. With this statement Barrack Hussein Obama defeats the aforementioned statement that Barack Hussein Obama does not come to Berlin as a politician. Furthermore, if a change in the leadership in Washington will not lift global burdens, then there is no reason to vote for Barack Hussein Obama. In this statement Barack Hussein Obama says that Barack Hussein Obama cannot evoke change and lift the burdens of globalization. Barack Hussein Obama candidates by exploiting the campaign motto: We can. We can change. Does the savior have limits?

 CONTENT USAGE. Delete global citizenship and use globalization. There is not such (legal) status as citizen of the world. Plutarch in Of Banishment states: “I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.” Plutarch did not know the geographical boundaries and national existences of the world during his time. His world was the Mediterranean. In the 17th century Sir Francis Bacon wrote in Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature: “If a man be generous and courteous to strangers, it shows that he is a citizen of the world; ….” This use of citizenship of the world in this quotation is constrained to emotional feeling, not to an accepted recognition by international law.
That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.
 CONTENT: The greatest danger of all, in the past, in the present, and in the future, is to allow (new) demagogues to build new walls.
The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand
 CONTENT: Barack Hussein Obama is referring to walls that do not exist.
The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand.
 CONTENT: Better is: The economic walls …
The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.
 CONTENT: The order of words is interesting. By placing Muslim between Christian and Jew is visually and vocally suggestive that the Christians and the Jews are walling/have walled in the Muslims. The Muslim Islamists are those who are walling. It is not the Christians and it is not the Jewish people. The Islamists and the Islamic terrorists have the goal of destroying Judaism and Israel and eventually every non-believer, that is to say, every Christian.

 GRAMMAR: These now … Better: These are the walls we must now tear down.
We know they have fallen before.
 CONTENT: Almost always it took a war to make them fall. The Berlin Wall is an historical exception.

 LOGIC: If these are new walls, then they did not exist before.
After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity.
 CONTENT: Better: promise, prosperity, and peace.

Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace.
 CONTENT: The Victory Column marks the victory of Germany over France in 1870-1871. The emphasis is not on victory, even though that is the name of the column. More importantly, the Victory Column marks the establishment of the unified German states into one nation, The German Reich. Barack Hussein Obama does not know history.
Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together; in the Balkans, where our Atlantic alliance ended wars and brought savage war criminals to justice; and in South Africa, where the struggle of a courageous people defeated apartheid.
 CONTENT: I do not like the use of walls. The picture often evokes something that does not exist. However, I shall use the word to make my content points clear. New walls have sprung up. The Irish vetoed the European Union Contract. Voilà: a new wall. The founding of Kosovo has brought a new wall between Albanians and Serbs. The refugees from Zimbabwe into South Africa have established new walls based on tribal and heritage discrimination. Barack Hussein Obama does not know present-day world developments.
So history reminds us that walls can be torn down
 CONTENT: History also reminds us that new walls can be built to replace the old ones.
But the task is never easy.
 CONTENT: What task? The fight for freedom? Or the tearing down of walls? Or the erecting of new walls?
True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice.
 No Comment. This appears to be a general statement to which everyone can agree.
They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace.
 CONTENT: Sharing must be equal.
They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.
 No Comment. This appears to be another general statement to which everyone can agree.
That is why America cannot turn inward.
 CONTENT: There is no tendency in America to turn inward. If America is turning inward, then why is it still conducting foreign relations with other countries and foreign trade? Barack Hussein Obama is suggesting/stating a situation that does not exist.
That is why Europe cannot turn inward.
 CONTENT: There is no tendency in Europe to turn inward. Barack Hussein Obama is suggesting/stating a situation that does not exist. If Europe is turning inward, then why has it expanded to 27 member nations?
America has no better partner than Europe
 CONTENT: And Europe has no better partner that the United States of America. Where is the problem?
Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic.
 CONTENT: There are enough global bridges in place in the form of non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and international agreements and contracts. All that has to be done is to use them properly.
Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
 These commitments are already in existence in a number of meetings on helping developing countries.
It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads, and people to assemble where we stand today. And this is the moment when our nations and all nations must summon that spirit anew.
 CONTENT: Barack Hussein Obama is calling for something that is intuitively obvious. The spirit must not be summoned anew. The spirit is always present. It must be constantly supported.
This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.
This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO’s first mission beyond Europe‘s borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.
This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love. With that wall gone, we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.
 CONTENT: This is a usurping of policy. This is essentially the same position of John McCain and Hillary Clinton, without Barack Hussein Obama’s content inaccuracies. The policy statement is not new with Barack Hussein Obama.

 CONTENT: networks. The word makes the act less terrifying. Use Islamist terrorist networks. Name them what they are. Reads better: who reject the Muslim Islamist extremism…

 CONTENT: stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism … The statement is too one sided. It excludes all other folk groupings and nations who reject extremism.

 CONTENT: No one welcomes war. Inaccurate statement. Islamists welcome war. Certain political groups welcome war, e.g., the Farq rebels in Columbia.

 CONTENT: The goal of a nuclear-free world has never stopped. Consultations and agreements have always occurred.

 CONTENT: The two superpowers did not face each other across the Berlin Wall. The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic faced each other. The Soviet Union did not build the wall. Furthermore, the people of Berlin faced the people of Berlin every day.
This is the moment when every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday. In this century, we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad. In this century, in this city of all cities, we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent.
This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all.
 CONTENT: This contradicts the above statement that Europeans have formed a union of prosperity, progress, etc. It also contradicts the following sentence. The European Union already does everything that Barack Hussein Obama says should be done. Barack Hussein Obama is not up-to-date on current European
Union politics. Policy, and political goals.

 CONTENT: There is no Cold War mind-set in the European Union. Neither is there one in Russia.

 CONTENT: This statement and wish should be communicated to Arabian, African, and other dictators. The Western democratic republican governments do not have to have their hands slapped. They are always doing something to solve the problems.
This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East. My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions. We must support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy, and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace. And despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.
 CONTENT: This message has been sent more than once by the Bush administration and various Washington officials. It has also been adapted and sent to the Middle East by the European Union. There is nothing new in this section that has not already been stated by John McCain or Hilary Clinton, except the content inaccuracies.
This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations including my own will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one.
 CONTENT: Many of these disasters are not caused by CO2 problems. Barack Hussein Obama is scapegoating by attempting to argue that there is a singular cause and a singular nation responsible.
And this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world. We must remember that the Cold War born in this city was not a battle for land or treasure. Sixty years ago, the planes that flew over Berlin did not drop bombs; instead they delivered food, and coal, and candy to grateful children. And in that show of solidarity, those pilots won more than a military victory. They won hearts and minds; love and loyalty and trust not just from the people in this city, but from all those who heard the story of what they did here.
 CONTENT: These are nice words. However, the planes do not drop bombs; bombers do!

 CONTENT: There was no military victory because there was no war in the traditional sense of the word. It was a diplomatic victory backed by concerted military effort. Barack Hussein Obama wants to become President, yet Barack Hussein Obama does not understand what Barack Hussein Obama says.
Now the world will watch and remember what we do here; what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?
 CONTENT: Now the world is watching. The world did not watch Barack Hussein Obama’s speech in Berlin.

 CONTENT: No corners of the world are forgotten. Empty phrase. The world does not have corners. The points of a compass signify the four directions only. They do not show corners.

 USAGE: who yearn for. Barack Hussein Obama got it correct this time.

 CONTENT: Banish AIDS. No country does more than the USA to banish AIDS, whether the research is government or privately supported. Perhaps Barack Hussein Obama could make contrition from the 300 million dollar campaign fund!
The best way to banish AIDS is to have proper sexual behavior, not aberrations.
Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words never again in Darfur?
 CONTENT: The correct nomenclature is Myanmar.

 CONTENT: Only the blogger in Ira? What about the other Iranians who do not blog.

 CONTENT: According to Robert Mugabe, a person who does not vote for him is not a voter. The problem is not guaranteeing rights to the voter in Zimbabwe. The problem is Robert Mugabe.

 CONTENT: Convince China and the Sudanese-supporting Arabian countries. They are the ones that continue to support the Sudanese government.
Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don‘t look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?
 CONTENT: There is a power that Barack Hussein Obama has forgotten: The Papacy has more ethical and moral power that most countries in the world. The problem is that the majority of nations pay only lip service to morals and ethics.

 USAGE: don’t is a contraction.
People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. This is our time.
 CONTENT: This reminds me of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and the Communist Manifesto.
I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we‘ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We‘ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.
 USAGE: we’ve is a contraction.

 CONTENT: No country and no person is perfect. But in the end the democratic republics have always come out on top!
But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived at great cost and great sacrifice to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom, indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America‘s shores is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.
 CONTENT: how much I love America is a statement of degrees. It can also mean the degree to which Barack Hussein Obama loves America does not say anything about Barack Hussein Obama’s patriotism and it can also mean a statement of little quantity, like I do not love my country very much.

 CONTENT: The great sacrifice was fighting for freedom.

 CONTENT: Not every language in the world is spoken in the United States of America. There are 350 languages that are spoken in the city of London alone. There is absolutely not this amount of foreign languages that are spoken in the United States of America.

 CONTENT: more perfect union is a disguised allusion to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, 19 November, 1863. The question thus arises: Is Barack Hussein Obama a modern political conglomerate of Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., or even a political Jesus (Barack Hussein Obama’s messianic tendencies), or Mohammed (Barack Hussein Obama’s heritage emphasis.)? If this is so, that is blasphemy at its greatest.

 CONTENT: I thought that Barack Hussein Obama’s father wanted to study at a western university. Kenya had none.
These are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. These aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of these aspirations that the airlift began.
 These aspirations are not why the airlift began. The airlift (see above) was General Clay’s answer to the challenge of the Soviet Union.
It is because of these aspirations that all free people everywhere became citizens of Berlin.
 CONTENT: I am not a citizen of Berlin. I live and have lived elsewhere. I am an American citizen.

 CONTENT: Citizens of Berlin is an allusion to Kennedy’s Ich bin ein Berliner speech and that speech has its problems. But that exposé is another story.
It is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation our generation must make our mark on the world.
 CONTENT: New generations do not have to be told that they must make their mark on the world. They make their mark anyway, without being told. They must be allowed the freedom to do so. That is why freedom is worth the fight.
People of Berlin, and people of the world, the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long.
 CONTENT: This reminds me of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and the Communist Manifesto.
But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom
 CONTENT: This is the messianic call.
We are a people of improbable hope.
 CONTENT: Hope is never improbable. Hope is always a probability. If it is improbable then there is no reason to hope.
With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again.
 CONTENT: remake the world once again. This statement does not jive with the logic behind hope being improbable. (There is no logic behind the statement in connection with the previous sentence.)

 USAGE: eye toward the future. It is an idiomatic expression. People have two eyes. Better would be: Facing the future…

CONCLUSIONS AND RELATED MATTERS

 The Speech
The speech is spotted with unnecessary repetitions, improper usages, bad grammar, idiomatic expressions, misrepresentation and interpretation of historical facts, and a large number of illogical statements, considering that Barack Hussein Obama is a Harvard University graduate. I did a quick editing of the speech and reduced it by 1000 words without losing the subject matter. A more exact editing would reduce it by another 1000 words. This means that 2000 words are unnecessary. If they are unnecessary, then two-thirds of the speech is filled with empty phrases, causing the speech to have hot air. The speech writer(s) should be fired. Moreover, if Barack Hussein Obama is not capable of proof-reading the prepared speeches and recognizing flagrant mistakes, wrongly stated historical facts, then Barack Hussein Obama should disqualify himself from candidacy for the presidency on the grounds of intellectual incapability. Barack Hussein Obama claims to possess knowledge and skill and the Berlin speech on 24 July 2008 proves the opposite.
The speech has 152 sentences. In these 152 sentences there are 115 instances of content inaccuracies. This gives us a speech content inaccuracy percentage of 75.6 percent. This leaves approximately 24.4 percent that could be considered as containing content substance. This is a percentage rate that is applicable to almost all of Barack Hussein Obama’s speeches.

 Barack Hussein Obama’s Rhetoric
Barack Hussein Obama is considered to be a great orator. If this speech and Barack Hussein Obama’s books are examples of great (written) oration, then I want no part of them. At best Barack Hussein Obama is mediocre. Barack Hussein Obama is not even a good orator. Surely Barack Hussein Obama is not a great orator. Great orators do not make such mistakes. To those readers and future audiences, I strongly suggest that you consider every word, every historical fact, carefully and recognize the use of every flowery phrase for what it is: the inability to communicate in sentences with content, and the suggestion that the user of such empty words is a great orator. Barack Hussein Obama claims to possess knowledge and skill fit for the office of the Presidency of the United States of America. In Barack Hussein Obama’s own speech in Berlin on 24 July 2008, Barack Hussein Obama proved that Barack Hussein Obama does not have these qualities. Barack Hussein Obama is not a great orator. Barack Hussein Obama is not a great politician. Barack Hussein Obama is just a commonplace charlatan. From New England to Alaska, From Chicago to the Hawaiian Islands, Barack Hussein Obama should come down to the ground where all Americans keep their feet. For the person with two feet on the ground who does not accept the messianic air of Barack Hussein Obama, there is only one word that aptly describes such self-presentation, suspicious character, and questionable oratory. Farmers, ranchers, and mainstream America know the word well.

 Political Orientation
My exposé does not present one political party – the Democratic Party, the Republican Party – as being better that the other. My comments are academic and objective. I do have my preferences in this election. I am not an active supporter of Senator John McCain. I am a sympathizer for John McCain because I see in John McCain all of the positive characteristics and values that a President of the United States of America should possess: fabulous leadership qualities, clear thinking, the ability to speak in an understandable, factual manner, and an exceptionally high degree of patriotism are only some examples of presidential characteristics. I am not against a Democrat being President. I was on the side of James Earl Carter. I am not against an Afro-American or a woman being President either. Hilary Clinton would make a good President, although she is not my favorite. Colin Powell would make a good President. I am one-hundred percent convinced that Condoleezza Rice would be a superb President, but not Barack Hussein Obama.
 Change, Hope, and the American Dream
Barack Hussein Obama is sly and not easy to nail down on many issues. Barack Hussein Obama’s drumbeat is change, change you can believe in. Yet, there is never an elaboration on it. How can one believe in change without knowing what it entails? What does Barack Hussein Obama mean with the word change? The United States of America undergoes change constantly, regardless of who is President. Change is effected by many means, fashion, the press, advertising, laws, world events, etc. However, change should not be effected by a charlatan. Every idiot knows that when there is a new American President there will be change. Harvard graduates know it, too. The American electorate knows that Barack Hussein Obama does not have to write the word change on their foreheads. They also know that Barack Hussein Obama does not have the intellectual and rhetorical ability to elaborate and explain the ramifications of Barack Hussein Obama’s change.
I read Barack Hussein Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, Three Rivers Press, New York: 2006. (The book has already been translated into German. This is quite fast turn-over time for a book by an American politician to be translated into a foreign language. It has not become a best seller in Germany as it was in the United States.) Moreover, the book is wordy, bad English, mushy, oriented to a reading public that is accustomed to soap operas, and non-intellectual discussion shows on radio and television. My feeling is that it is directed to a public concerned with fatuity and does not understand false hopes. As a matter of fact, there is no audacity or unrestrained impudence whatsoever in the book. If hope can be audacious, then love and faith be audacious as well. As a stated Christian Barack Hussein Obama should know that for hope to be audacious is completely contrary to the word of God as we read it in I Corinthians, 13: 13, from the King James Version of the Bible: “And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three: but the greatest of these is love.” This passage does not speak of faith, hope, or love being unrestrained impudence. The passage speaks of faith, hope, love in simple word-concepts.
There is a lot of false hope in Barack Hussein Obama’s book. One hope that is in the title is to reclaim the American Dream. From the philosophy of political theory and the principles of logic, the American Dream cannot be reclaimed because it was never disclaimed. A dream to achieve something and keep it is ever continuous. To use a word from Walt Whitman, the American Dream is an eidólon, an image of an ideal that perhaps sometimes, but not completely, can come true. It will always be present. Therefore, it does not have to be reclaimed. I seriously doubt that Barack Hussein Obama knows what the origin of the American Dream is. Moreover, I very seriously doubt that Barack Hussein Obama cares. Barack Hussein Obama is only interested in using flowers of speech without seriously thinking about their content. Thus Barack Hussein Obama’s rhetoric ends up being nothing more than empty phrases. I followed Barack Hussein Obama’s presidential primary show and analyzed Barack Hussein Obama’s speeches. In all of them 50% or more content is meaningless phraseology. This is supported by the fact that on the internet there are a plethora of political commentators who have written about what Barack Hussein Obama really said, or meant to say. As far as I am concerned, Barack Hussein Obama just says what the speeches say, but does not know what they mean, and cannot say what Barack Hussein Obama means, or mean what Barack Hussein Obama says, because to do so would prove that Barack Hussein Obama is an advocate of meaningless, hot-air rhetoric. Barack Hussein Obama is a charlatan.
 Barack Hussein Obama’s Messiah Syndrome
Barack Hussein Obama should also learn that politics is not entertainment. Entertainment is comedy and tragedy. The comedy with Barack Hussein Obama is that Barack Hussein Obama believes what Barack Hussein Obama says without knowing what Barack Hussein Obama says. The tragedy is that there are so many Americans and people from other countries who believe Barack Hussein Obama because it is subtly suggested to them to think that Barack Hussein Obama is on a Godly mission.
Barack Hussein Obama’s foreign policy trip to the Middle East and Europe was self-presentation smacking of false assumption of authority, authority that Barack Hussein Obama does not possess. Underlying Barack Hussein Obama’s self-presentation and in a very undertoned manner throughout Barack Hussein Obama’s public appearances and speeches, is the messianic concept. This is underscored by Barack Hussein Obama’s private airplane that is overloaded with the messianic touch. It comes from the sky (heaven) and brings a savior. The airplane has the logo The rising sun (son) that is bringing the world change we can believe in. The phrases and words like the walls came tumbling down; I have come to you; prayer; believe in,” etc. suggest that Barack Hussein Obama is a messiah. There is also an underlying tone that Barack Hussein Obama is delivering a sort of Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), a teaching to the world. This is extremely dangerous because when Barack Hussein Obama’s messiah/Jesus-orientation is coupled with Barack Hussein Obama’s allusions to Abraham Lincoln, Ernst Reuter, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Hussein Obama is really saying that Barack Hussein Obama is better than all of them because the Sermon on the Mount delivery and presentation suggestion outscores them all. Such conduct is not only the epitome of blasphemy. It is the epitome of sacrilege.
The Barack Hussein Obama megalomania presentation reeks of falsehood and deception to the degree that its putrid stench will never evaporate. I want God to bless America. America does not need Barack Hussein Obama’s false-god blessing. Barack Hussein Obama should have the common sense to accept the truth that Barack Hussein Obama is not a savior. Barack Hussein Obama is not a messiah. America needs a President. America does not need Barack Hussein in the assumed status of a messiah. America does not need a Barack-Hussein-Obama charlatan. America needs God’s guidance and a President who deserves to be respected.
Frederick William Dame

[John, from Las Vegas, NV]

Hey! Racist troll. Get your own f'in website to spread your hate on.

[Boomshadow]

Mr. Dame,

Am I to understand from your rebuttal that Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein?

[B Manning]

Mr. Dame,

Excellent evaluation of Senator Obama. He is an empty suit. I don't quite understand how people can't see through his hot air.

[B Manning]

Mr. Dame,

Excellent evaluation of Senator Obama. He is an empty suit. I don't quite understand how people can't see through his hot air.