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Obama Calls On Europe For Aid In Global Challenges

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By JEFF ZELENY and NICHOLAS KULISH

The New York Times

Published: July 25, 2008

BERLIN - Sen. Barack Obama stood before a sea of cheering admirers on Thursday and sought to inspire fresh cooperation among American allies to defeat terrorism and other threats.

He introduced himself as a leader who could summon other nations to join the United States in confronting the world's next challenges.

On a perch steeped in history, Obama said it was time to reprise the spirit that conquered communism, and use it to heal divisions and forge closer partnerships to deal with nuclear proliferation, global warming, poverty and genocide.

Without naming President Bush or going into detail about European disenchantment with the Iraq war and other policies of the current administration, Obama suggested the United States would become a better partner, but called on European countries to uphold their responsibilities.

"The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand," Obama said, putting a new twist on the Cold War calls to bring down the barrier that divided Berlin.

"The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. 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."

The German police estimated that more than 200,000 people came to hear Obama speak from the base of the Victory Column in the Tiergarten, a sprawling park in the center of the city.
Berliners waved American flags, provided by the campaign, throughout the address, offering precisely the visual message that Obama's aides wanted to beam back home: a candidate who could restore the world's faith in strong American leadership and idealism.

Obama looked out toward the Brandenburg Gate, where President Reagan once implored the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" and end the Cold War.

The setting of the speech, as well as the size of the crowd, seemed to place Obama among a litany of American leaders who have stood before him, even though he is simply a first-term U.S. senator.

"I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before," Obama said.

"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."

In his 30-minute address, Obama did not overtly criticize Bush or his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, but he did offer a gentle dose of criticism of his own nation. That, too, drew loud cheers from the crowd.

"I know my country has not perfected itself," he said.

"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."

As he offered a glimpse of an active foreign policy, should he be elected - mentioning Darfur, Zimbabwe and Burma in his address - he signaled an intention to leave behind what Bush's critics see as often-misguided unilateralism in favor of greater cooperation.

Yet Obama also suggested that he would expect the cooperation to flow both ways, urging Europe to be more supportive of sending additional NATO troops to Afghanistan, a politically unpopular stance in Germany.

"No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone," Obama said.

Republicans called Obama's visit presumptuous, but in his first trip to Berlin he was treated with unusual deference.

Local newspapers and television stations chased him around town, offering minute-by-minute updates of his whereabouts.

Bratwurst-and-beer stands shared space with vendors who were selling an array of Obama products, including a T-shirt that declared, "The World For Obama '08."

First and foremost, Obama was well-received because he is not Bush, who is unpopular in Germany.

Obama said a new president in the United States would not take away the responsibility for the countries to increase their partnership.

"No doubt, there will be differences in the future, but the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together," Obama said.

"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."

Throughout his address, Obama said that the path of history, the Berlin Airlift and the Cold War fight against communism, offered hope for a future in dealing with eliminating nuclear weapons, dealing with Iran and resolving the conflict in the Middle East.

"This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it," Obama said. "This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it."

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