Obama! July 27, 2008

Yes, we can! Yes, we could! Yes, we did!

We saw Obama at the speech he gave on Thursday in Berlin. And for once in our lives, we decided to get there earlier than early. We left our house at 14:30, met friends and traveled en masse to the Siegessäule (Victory Column), arriving just before the gates opened at 16:00…all for a 19:00 speech! I have to say, this time it was worth it. We were right up front, about seven rows from the podium. (well, “rows” is a bit misleading. there were no chairs or benches, so perhaps i should say “seven layers of people”?) It was certainly very squishy up there, but for the first 2 hours, everyone just sat down on the pavement and talked and laughed with their friends. About an hour before, the security and Secret Service began checking the mic placement on stage, adjusting the teleprompters, and whatever else needed to be done before the speech.

Security was high in general. Everyone had to pass through airport-like security before entering, though we could thankfully bring large bottles of water. There was a helicopter that flew around the entire time; or, more correctly, it hovered in various parts of the sky above us, never flying off until half an hour after Obama left the stage.

On various levels of the Siegessäule, even up at the very top, there were men in dark suits and sunglasses, looking out through binoculars and also those special viewers normally used by tourists to see all of beautiful Berlin laying out in front of them. Security both faced and stayed behind the crowd – some Secret Service, some German policemen, some security probably contracted specifically for this event. I saw them take out some punky teenagers with attitude on the front row at least 2 hours before the event. Never saw the kids again. We heard that the level of security was only one notch lower than what the President would have received.

We were in front of the press box:

Closer to time, people became quite grouchy with their space. From our group, M and one of our friends went to get some water across the crowds. Getting over there was no problem, but getting back was a nightmare! No one wanted to let anyone get any inch closer than they were…and I can understand, in a way. We did stake our our places 3 hours in advance. Our friend arrived after 30 minutes, but M almost didn’t make it back at all, and wouldn’t have if we’d not had 2 phone conversations of me telling (begging, preaching to) him to be more pushy. What finally helped him slice through the people – those who locked arms and refused to let him through, or who pretended they didn’t speak any English at all (at a speech given by an american?!?), or who just plain refused to look at him – was the a little white lie. He’d already been explaining that his friends were over there, and he was just trying to get back, not get ahead, but after 2 phone calls when he finally added that he had a baby over there with his wife, their iron-strong arms reluctantly unlocked, the supposed non-English speakers seemed to understand, and those who refused to look gave way, just enough to let him (and only him) through. Whew. The next day there was little video on youtube of a woman raising her arm and waving a bottle to get someone’s attention (starting at about 1:45 into the film), which I did after talking to M on the phone. M and our friend J are just sure it’s me, but I don’t recognize any of the surrounding faces. Maybe I was too stressed out to remember. But she is wearing the same black tank top I wore, and she sure looks like me from behind. Except, I think my hair is longer…

At 19:00, people began chanting “O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!” The press box behind us had their cameras and mics on, everyone was standing, and more and more security surrounded the stage. Finally, a voice announced (in german), simply, “Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome our guest, a senator of the United States, Barack Obama!” As he came out, there were floods of cheers and screams, arms in the air, people jumping up and down, everyone’s cameras and camera phones flashing. (as a little aside, it must be funny being a celebrity these days. you walk out and all you see are thousands of little technological devices being held in the air, but you still hear human cheers and claps. what happened to just plain smiling faces??) Ever the gentleman, ever the politician, he thanked us profusely, flashing generously that million-dollar smile the whole while.

His speech was about half an hour long, during which I listened intently to the message but also reflected on the respect that humans still generally show each other. No one tried to make a scene, no one was out of control. Really, what are the chances that you can get 200,000 people in one space and not have some freak acting out? People were there to listen, to hear what he had to say. And to see him, of course – we’ve heard from more than one person that Germans love Obama for many reasons. One friend told us a funny story about a break in a recording she was making in Hamburg. All the women went running back to the computer, saying, “Oh, let’s look up Obama on youtube!”

The speech was beautifully delivered with his elegant use of our language, yet it was also simple and very general. People have criticized it for not really saying anything, and the Germans were upset that he didn’t “promise” anything about what would change in the future. But, I felt that as he is a presidential candidate , he was deliberately not making this a campaign speech; truthfully, he’s not in a position yet where he can say much over here. (But we all know that his coming here and saying anything at all says a lot and is also very political.) He referenced all of the things you’d expect in a speech in Berlin – the wall, WWII, rebuilding, overcoming obstacles… He made connections between Berlin from WWII till now, to the current state of the world (walls, wars, rebuilding, overcoming obstacles…) He acknowledged that America had not always lived up to its best intentions, and asked for Europeans to continue to work together, with the US, and with all other nations, in our combined efforts to live more peacefully in this world. People cheered where I expected – all the “hot topics” like global warming, stopping the war in Iraq, solving the disaster of Darfur. I admit, it would have been great to hear some real plans, some clear ideas and solutions, some solid apologies for America’s attitude these last 8 years, but is a speech from a presidential candidate and in a foreign country really the place for that? We can read more about his policies online, and we can watch the upcoming debates.

But, it is something we are all longing to hear. Who will help us out of this mess? Can he help us? Can Obama save the world??

As he finished, we cheered and clapped, and he came down to shake hands; ours were unfortunately 7 rows too far away, though I pushed my way up to at least row 3. Then he left, and it was all over: thanks, smile and wave, the end. As we walked back to our bikes (parked at hitler’s bunker), we shared our reactions and thoughts with each other, our little group with one German man, one Finnish woman, and our always-outrageous, always-outspoken friend from NY. We got home at 21:00 after goodbyes and one stop for chocolate ice-cream, smiling and grateful that we had the opportunity, and that we happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Happy supporters!