Sour grapes

So Barack Obama gives a speech in Berlin, and 200,000 enthusiastic people show up to hear his speech and cheer him.

International Herald Tribune: Obama gets pop star reception in Berlin

Senator Barack Obama stood before a sea of people here Thursday evening and issued a call for cooperation, imploring America and Europe to bridge differences and rekindle old alliances in an effort to restore global stability and better confront existing and unforeseen threats.

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Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who is on a weeklong international tour, delivered his address at the base of the Victory Column in the Tiergarten, a sprawling park in the center of the city.

He looked out toward the Brandenburg Gate, where President Ronald Reagan implored the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down that wall” and end the Cold War, and spoke to crowd that the German News Agency DPA estimated at 200,000 people.

The response to Obama has been so warm that the coordinator for German-American relations in the Foreign Ministry here, Karsten Voigt, has tried to scale back expectations. He reminded Germans in interview after interview that Obama would have to support positions unpopular with the German public, like a stronger presence engaged in more fighting for the Bundeswehr, the German army, in Afghanistan.

First and foremost, Obama is popular because he is not Bush, who is wildly unpopular in Germany. Asked why they support Obama, his opposition to the Iraq War usually comes up first.

The excitement in Germany over Obama has grown steadily through the Democratic primaries, reaching its peak with his address herwe Thursday in the Tiergarten, Berlin’s equivalent of Central Park. Obama’s photograph was splashed across the front pages of German newspapers. Leaflets advertising the speech with quotes from Presisent John F. Kennedy — who came to this divided city at the height of the Cold War and urged those who did not believe in freedom: “Let them come to Berlin” — fluttered in the street.

Reaction from Grumpy McCain:

“”Well, I’d love to give a speech in Germany … a political speech or a speech that maybe the German people would be interested in. . . ” “But I would much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for the office of the presidency.”

Or, shorter John McCain:

Hmmmmpph!

If I were Senator Greenscreenspeech, the last thing I would do is draw attention to Senator Obama’s speeches.