They got what they wanted in 2008. Now they are living the results just like we are.
The stage for the president's speech is set up on the
East side of the Brandenburg Gate, in the old East Berlin. The sun is
pounding down and there are around 6,000 invited guests according to
German authorities. There are bleachers set up either side of the
square, with a big two storey riser facing the stage which has a row of
bullet proof glass and 12 US, German and EU flags and the grand backdrop
of the Gate. There is a large standing crowd between the bleachers.
Last time around, when Obama delivered a speech in Berlin in the 2008
presidential campaign, when he was still a senator, 200,000 folks came
out to see him.
As the New York Times reports:
The last time President Obama paid a visit here, as a candidate in 2008, he was cheered on by
200,000 Germans eager to see the back of George W. Bush and, as one
member of that crowd recalled Tuesday, “full of wholly unrealistic
expectations of what kind of miracles Obama could work.”
When he arrived here on Tuesday evening ahead of a full day of talks —
capped by a speech at the Brandenburg Gate — the reception was far more
restrained.
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