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In a very rare turn of events I shall share my thoughts on politics with the digital ether.  Last night Obama delivered a land-mark speech to 200.000 spectators in Berlin and he wowed the European crowds as much as the American TV-viewers. What do I (as a European)  think of it?

Recently I came across a statement in a political analysis by an american commentator and the general gist of it was “Just don’t tell the average American that the Europeans love Obama – He’ll be doomed!”. While there is probably a grain of truth in it – after all americans love themselves in the role of the sole ruler of the free world without interference from us soppy Europeans – I think that Obama was very brave with his speech to underscore the need for more trans-atlantic cooperation.

And indeed most commentators and news reports picked up on the “Americans and Europeans must work together in the future” theme, but I think there was subtly different theme hidden in his words.
More importantly Obama’s speech aimed to re-claim America’s leadership in all that lies ahead. That undertone went along the lines “difficult times lie ahead and while we (EU and US) must work together, we (the US) will take charge of what is being done and how”.

In the past (after WWII and during the cold war) America took exactly that position and nobody minded that (Vietnam being the notable exception), but as we all know that sentiment has faded significantly in the last decade.

I hope that the average American, who dislikes us Europeans (is that really so?) and would rather go it alone all for the american interest alone, realised last night that Obama appealed to them as much as he appealed to those more worldy-minded Americans who realise that global problems have to be tackled globally in a shared initiative.

The impression I got from Obama’s trip so far has been this – Europe has worked against America in the last decade on a number of counts, but only because it had to – America was doing things wrong and Europe had to take charge. But we, the Europeans, wouldn’t mind playing second fiddle again, if ONLY someone like Obama would take charge. From the commentaries and interviews with politicians who talked to Obama I got the feeling that Europe wants Obama to be the president of the world, not just of the US.
Now I hope America that America wants their own president not just to themselves, but also of the world – If they do he stands a good chance in November.