Kaj takega se še Billu Clintonu ni posrečilo. Kajpak, Clinton je nasledil Georgea Busha st. in Evropa je bila takrat, neposredno po padcu Berlinskega zidu, v sanjah. Potem je prišel nov dan in z njim George Bush ml.. Evropi se zato Barack Obama zdi kot sanje: končno spet rock’n'roll namesto countryja. Spiegel je navdušen: /ameriški predsednik/ Številka 44 je govoril. In s Spieglom so očarani vsi drugi, časopisi, 200.000 glava množica, ki je včeraj pozno popoldne s ploskanjem prekinjala Obamov govor pri berlinskem slavoloku zmage, vsa Evropa. V slokega ameriškega senatorja kot da so investirane vse želje in upi, od tega, da reši ‘lizbonski vozel’ in valutno razmerje med dolarjem in evrom do tega, da obvaruje svet pred podnebno katastrofo in drago nafto. Bilo je osupljivo gledati, kako Evropa hrepeni po modrem in razumnem ameriškem predsedniku, po novem Wilsonu, Rooseveltu, Kennedyju in Reaganu, kako spet enkrat, če je sploh kdaj prenehala, strmi čez ocean in molče, ne, z ovacijami sporoča: Ti vodi, Amerika!

Sijajna in popolna je bila ta predstava, med katero je Evropa zrla v državljana Obamo, on pa čez ocean: Glej me, Amerika, Evropa hoče mene, samo z mano bomo spet vodili svet! Nedvomno, še pred sinočnjim nastopom objavljena Gallupova anketa pravi, da najmanj štiri petine Angležev, Nemcev in Francozov hočeta Obamo. John McCain nima v Evropi česa iskati, republikanski kandidat za Evropo ne obstaja. Ne moremo še vedeti, kako bo ravnal Barack Obama kot predsednik, toda zdi se priporočljivo niti ne razmišljati o tem, kaj bi izvolitev McCaina pomenila za evropsko-ameriške odnose.

_{I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. 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 - 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’m 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.
/…/
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, 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 victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.
/…/
In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help 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 one way, the only 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; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.
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.
/…/
This is the moment when we must renew the goal 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.
/…/
This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably.
/…/
This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands.
/…/
And this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world.
/…/
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.
/…/
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. Let us build on our common history, and seize our common destiny, and once again engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world.}

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