200,000 people in Berlin

[Defekted]

To hear the next US President speak......

Goosebumps. This is what we should see at all time..... this is the love and affection I want the world to show us. This is hope. This is change.......

Crazy, I was standing right under the victory statue two years ago during the World Cup...... I watched the Final right there in Berlin among a million people......

To think Obama can pull that type of number is remarkable

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f236/Lebstal/Berlin.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f236/Lebstal/obama_span_blog.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f236/Lebstal/berlin2.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f236/Lebstal/berlin3.jpg



and this was here in the states (Oregon), in case some people think doing it abroad aint that special

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f236/Lebstal/obama-oregon.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f236/Lebstal/PH2008051801901.jpg

[Defekted]

Next picture thread = the DNC Convention - His Acceptance Speech at Denver Broncos Stadium: 80,000 people

[Defekted]

In other news: McCain ate at a German restaurant in Ohio.

[Defekted]

Transcript of Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin

Obama: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you to the citizens of Berlin…

… and thank you 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 thanks to all of you for this extraordinary welcome. Thank you.

I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before, although 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.

I know that I don’t look like the Americans who’ve previously spoken in this great city.

The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya.

His father…

His father, my grandfather, was a cook, a domestic servant to the British. 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. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.

That is why I am here. And you are here because you, too, know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom.

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.

Ours is a partnership that truly began 60 years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Tempelhof. On that day…

On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain and France took their stock of their losses and pondered how the world might be remade.

This is where the two sides met. And on the 24th of June, 1948, the communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than 2 million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.

The size of our forces was no match for the larger Soviet army, and yet retreat would have allowed communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. And all that stood in the way was Berlin.

And that’s when the airlift began, when the largest and most unlikely rescue in the history brought food and hope to the people of this city.

The odds were stacked against 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. 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.

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. “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,” he said, “and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world, now do your duty. People of the world, look at Berlin.”

People of the world, look at Berlin. 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.

Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle, where a — where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.

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.

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.

Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again. History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. 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.

From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. 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 century 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.

Think about it. 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.

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.

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. The poppies in Afghanistan come to Berlin in the form of heroin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all.

In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. And 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. 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 us 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 only way, the one way to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.

The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christians and Muslims and Jews cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

We know — we know that these walls have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace.

Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they’ve 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.

So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy, of peace and progress. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other, and, most of all, trust each other.

That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe.

Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that binds us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, and strong institutions, and shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

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.

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 can’t do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops, our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaida, 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.

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 mindset 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 opens 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 — 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.

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’ve marched and bled for democracy and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace.

And despite — 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.

This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children to 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 — this is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one. 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.

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, and shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?

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?

Will we acknowledge — 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…

Will we — 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?

People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. This is our time.

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.

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.

Those 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 those aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people, everywhere, became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit — it is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation, our generation, must make our mark on the world.

People of Berlin and people of the world, the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long.

But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye towards the future, with resolve in our heart, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again.

Thank you, Berlin. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you.

[JustLikeHeaven]

In other news: McCain ate at a German restaurant in Ohio.

:hitting LMAO


Transcript of Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin

Obama: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you to the citizens of Berlin…

… and thank you 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 thanks to all of you for this extraordinary welcome. Thank you.

I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before, although 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.

I know that I don’t look like the Americans who’ve previously spoken in this great city.

The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya.

His father…

His father, my grandfather, was a cook, a domestic servant to the British. 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. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.

That is why I am here. And you are here because you, too, know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom.

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.

Ours is a partnership that truly began 60 years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Tempelhof. On that day…

On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain and France took their stock of their losses and pondered how the world might be remade.

This is where the two sides met. And on the 24th of June, 1948, the communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than 2 million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.

The size of our forces was no match for the larger Soviet army, and yet retreat would have allowed communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. And all that stood in the way was Berlin.

And that’s when the airlift began, when the largest and most unlikely rescue in the history brought food and hope to the people of this city.

The odds were stacked against 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. 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.

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. “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,” he said, “and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world, now do your duty. People of the world, look at Berlin.”

People of the world, look at Berlin. 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.

Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle, where a — where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.

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.

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.

Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again. History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. 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.

From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. 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 century 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.

Think about it. 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.

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.

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. The poppies in Afghanistan come to Berlin in the form of heroin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all.

In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. And 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. 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 us 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 only way, the one way to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.

The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christians and Muslims and Jews cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

We know — we know that these walls have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace.

Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they’ve 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.

So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy, of peace and progress. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other, and, most of all, trust each other.

That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe.

Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that binds us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, and strong institutions, and shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

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.

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 can’t do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops, our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaida, 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.

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 mindset 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 opens 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 — 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.

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’ve marched and bled for democracy and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace.

And despite — 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.

This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children to 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 — this is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one. 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.

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, and shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?

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?

Will we acknowledge — 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…

Will we — 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?

People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. This is our time.

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.

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.

Those 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 those aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people, everywhere, became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit — it is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation, our generation, must make our mark on the world.

People of Berlin and people of the world, the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long.

But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye towards the future, with resolve in our heart, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again.

Thank you, Berlin. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank u for posting this..from those of us who are blocked from all videos at work :pullhair lol

Very moving speech & amazing crowd! :heart

[CraftyVet16]

In other news: McCain ate at a German restaurant in Ohio.

:LOL :LOL :LOL

200,000 wow... this guy is loved everywhere..... i can twait til november

[ShaE]

In other news: McCain ate at a German restaurant in Ohio.
straight talk express made a pit stop? lol

[Defekted]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iE2JCSH5p9r2GBkQWS9TWAMzmuvQD924DHF80


you guys think im joking? lol

[Defekted]

:LOL :LOL :LOL

i cant wait til november

your telling me! And best thing of all is my bday is 11/3.

The planets are alligning.

[Studz]

I love how him trying to cornor obama by asking him to go abroad wound up biting in the ASS HARDDDDDDDDDDDD

[JustLikeHeaven]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iE2JCSH5p9r2GBkQWS9TWAMzmuvQD924DHF80


you guys think im joking? lol

omg LMAO I thought u were just being witty!

That is hilarious lol.

[ShaE]

More importantly, he's loved for the right reasons. A lot of people here liked hearing dumbya speak too before he actually got in there and screwed it all up.

This point stuck with me, the tone I get from a lot of (usually republicans), is that they disagree with this fundamental point:

But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together.

I don't think they feel there is any such thing as "global citizenship", they don't even feel a common bond or kinship with their fellow americans. They aren't concerned in the slightest with the welfare of anyone other than themselves, their personal finances, their family, their jobs. The only reason they care for the security of their nation, is because that's where they live, sleep, and make their money.

Not everyone believes in any kind of global community nevermind a common obligation to participate in benefitting it.

[ShaE]

I love how him trying to cornor obama by asking him to go abroad wound up biting in the ASS HARDDDDDDDDDDDD
well he went abroad and then he lambasted his wardrobe while doing so lol

[ShaE]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iE2JCSH5p9r2GBkQWS9TWAMzmuvQD924DHF80


you guys think im joking? lol
LOL i totally thought you were kidding. His team is stupid, if they were trying to present the idea that he'd rather be in america's heartland than abroad masquerading as president, they shouldn't have allowed him to go to a GERMAN restaurant. That completely makes it look like he feels like he had to do something to match obama's trip to GERMANY. wtf. you just "happen" to go to a german restaurant the day he gives a huge speech in germany?

if you want to convince people you don't care, and your choice to stay in america w/ americans is right, don't overcompensate.

[Defekted]

omg LMAO I thought u were just being witty!

That is hilarious lol.

lol,

Im not that good. No one can think of something that rediculously funny

[metfan85]

:LOL :LOL :LOL

200,000 wow... this guy is loved everywhere..... i can twait til november

too bad 200,000 German's aren't allowed to vote in the US

[ShaE]

too bad 200,000 German's aren't allowed to vote in the US
being supported around the world doesn't hurt.

[darius]

i think one of the pics you have is doctored . . . the first one i believe. i managed to track down the original . . . attached.

[Defekted]

i think one of the pics you have is doctored . . . the first one i believe. i managed to track down the original . . . attached.

Where did you get the original from? One of Jamez's "buzz" news sites?

[Defekted]

too bad 200,000 German's aren't allowed to vote in the US

There are more Americans in that crowd than in any McCain Campaign stop during anytime in his campaign.

;)

[JustLikeHeaven]

LOL i totally thought you were kidding. His team is stupid, if they were trying to present the idea that he'd rather be in america's heartland than abroad masquerading as president, they shouldn't have allowed him to go to a GERMAN restaurant. That completely makes it look like he feels like he had to do something to match obama's trip to GERMANY. wtf. you just "happen" to go to a german restaurant the day he gives a huge speech in germany?

if you want to convince people you don't care, and your choice to stay in america w/ americans is right, don't overcompensate.

If that's truly the reason he did it, that's the dumbest thing I have EVER heard lmao.

[metfan85]

LOL i totally thought you were kidding. His team is stupid, if they were trying to present the idea that he'd rather be in america's heartland than abroad masquerading as president, they shouldn't have allowed him to go to a GERMAN restaurant. That completely makes it look like he feels like he had to do something to match obama's trip to GERMANY. wtf. you just "happen" to go to a german restaurant the day he gives a huge speech in germany?

if you want to convince people you don't care, and your choice to stay in america w/ americans is right, don't overcompensate.

or it looks like he's with German's that can actually help him win an election...

[chromeheart]

mccain will still win.

[Defekted]

or it looks like he's with German's that can actually help him win an election...

The only thing he is going to win is BINGO at the Arizona State Nursing Home.

[DJ Becka]

The only thing he is going to win is BINGO at the Arizona State Nursing Home.

ziiiiinnnnnngggggggggggggggg :LOL

[CraftyVet16]

mccain will still win.

i really don't think there is a chance of that

[Chris]

too bad 200,000 German's aren't allowed to vote in the US

not really gonna be needed... can you say landslide?

[jameznyhc]

The only thing he is going to win is BINGO at the Arizona State Nursing Home.

Not a smart idea giving wounded vets in germany the shaft ..he should have visited .. i believe he was fearful of being questioned on his stance about the surge

[JustLikeHeaven]

Not a smart idea giving wounded vets in germany the shaft ..he should have visited .. i believe he was fearful of being questioned on his stance about the surge

bullshit!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/troopssmear

[metfan85]

not really gonna be needed... can you say landslide?

the way the republican have goverened Obama should be winning 70-30 right now.. the fact that he's not is a real testament to how weak his candidacy is

[jameznyhc]

More importantly, he's loved for the right reasons. A lot of people here liked hearing dumbya speak too before he actually got in there and screwed it all up.

This point stuck with me, the tone I get from a lot of (usually republicans), is that they disagree with this fundamental point:

But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together.

I don't think they feel there is any such thing as "global citizenship", they don't even feel a common bond or kinship with their fellow americans. They aren't concerned in the slightest with the welfare of anyone other than themselves, their personal finances, their family, their jobs. The only reason they care for the security of their nation, is because that's where they live, sleep, and make their money.

Not everyone believes in any kind of global community nevermind a common obligation to participate in benefitting it.

Funny thing you say this cause you mocked me when i was happy afhannis could vote ..funny thing you say this when every dem was willing to let kurds and shia be wiped out thru genocide in iraq ..then complain about darfur?? .. funny thing you say this Reagan freed east germany ..helped crush communism .. Bush jr has waged war on islamic fundamentalism (glad to hear Obama embrace this) .. Poland is very appreciative to us for helping liberate them ..i laugh at Obamas words about germany because during that time every Democrat was blasting reagan for being so anti communist .. so shae if we wanted to turn our backs on the oppressed living under dictators because intellectuals in france get upset i say vote democrat ...

[jameznyhc]

the way the republican have goverened Obama should be winning 70-30 right now.. the fact that he's not is a real testament to how weak his candidacy is

I have no clue how McCain closed the gap ..im wondering if media bias is galvanizing the base ..

[jameznyhc]

bullshit!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/troopssmear

Wow your on roll this week huh?? ... lmao i never said he didnt visit vets in afghanistan ..i thought it was disgraceful cancelling on WOUNDED vets in germany recovering ... lol ..

BERLIN (AP) - Sen. Barack Obama scrapped plans to visit wounded members of the armed forces in Germany as part of his overseas trip, a decision his spokesman said was made because the Democratic presidential candidate thought it would be inappropriate on a campaign-funded journey.
The spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said Thursday that Obama made his decision out of respect for the servicemen and women, but Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign immediately criticized the move.

"Barack Obama is wrong. It is never inappropriate to visit our men and women in the military," said Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the Republican contender.

Obama's decision raised a number of questions because the visit, which had been scheduled for Friday, never appeared on the schedule of events distributed to reporters who are accompanying him on his travels.

The first word from the campaign about its existence was Gibbs' statement.

Obama had been planning to go to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany before a flight to Paris. Gibbs said the stop was canceled because Obama decided "it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

[CraftyVet16]

the way the republican have goverened Obama should be winning 70-30 right now.. the fact that he's not is a real testament to how weak his candidacy is

it goes to show how weak and just plain stupid we are as a country

[JustLikeHeaven]

Wow your on roll this week huh?? ... lmao i never said he didnt visit vets in afghanistan ..i thought it was disgraceful cancelling on WOUNDED vets in germany recovering ... lol ..

BERLIN (AP) - Sen. Barack Obama scrapped plans to visit wounded members of the armed forces in Germany as part of his overseas trip, a decision his spokesman said was made because the Democratic presidential candidate thought it would be inappropriate on a campaign-funded journey.
The spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said Thursday that Obama made his decision out of respect for the servicemen and women, but Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign immediately criticized the move.

"Barack Obama is wrong. It is never inappropriate to visit our men and women in the military," said Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the Republican contender.

Obama's decision raised a number of questions because the visit, which had been scheduled for Friday, never appeared on the schedule of events distributed to reporters who are accompanying him on his travels.

The first word from the campaign about its existence was Gibbs' statement.

Obama had been planning to go to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany before a flight to Paris. Gibbs said the stop was canceled because Obama decided "it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.


LOL oops

Well anyhow, as for those troops he didn't visit out of respect - bc he didn't want it to be perceived as a campaign event.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/25/no_troop_visits_for_obama_in_g.html

[MikeyDubl]

sad part is how many of us know what the german leaders name is lol

he looks like he's giving the Nazi salute.....Im starting to like him more and more

[metfan85]

ur saying angela merkel was giving the nazi salute or obama? LOL

[MikeyDubl]

Obama

and if his views on Israel are how the conservative media say they are....Im on board

[knox]

yeah....that's crazzzzzy!!!

[Special k89]

this guy knows how to run his mouth a lot but i guarantee almost nothing of what he says will ahppen. If he legalizes weed in ny he has my vote rofll.

[Greta J]

holler !!

www.mynameisbarackobama.com

:chuckle