Obama to speak at Brandenburg Gate?

Barack Obama is apparently considering a major speech in Germany later this moth during his junket to Europe and the Middle East. According to the plan, Obama will use Berlin's historic Brandenburg Gate as a backdrop for a major address on US foreign policy.

The Brandenburg Gate was the site of two iconic speeches by two iconic American presidents - John Kennedy's "Ich bien ien Berliner" address and Ronald Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" challenge.

Germany's political leaders are split over the idea. Prime Minister Angela Merkel is reported to have reservations about having one of Germany's most famous landmarks used as a backdrop for a campaign speech, while Berlin's mayor Klaus Wowereit is said to be enthusiastically behind the idea.

I hope that Barack has second thoughts about this. There's an informal agreement among American politicians: politics ends at the water's edge. When they are abroad our elected officials present a united front in representing American policy and leave any political disputes they have behind. Both Obama and John McCain are making trips abroad part of their run for the White House. But its one thing to pay a visits to foreign heads of state, or US troops stationed abroad, its something quite different to hold what's in effect a huge campaign rally on foreign soil.

Past that, it's also a move that smacks of arrogance. At the time of their speeches Kennedy and Reagan had both been elected president and their appearances at the Brandenburg Gate were not mere political stump speeches, but bold statements meant to advance their respective foreign policies. Obama's proposed appearance at the same place is a subliminal way of putting himself in the pantheon of former US presidents, and it’s about as subtle as him drawing his face on Mount Rushmore (a point I am sure the McCain camp will try to make).

Obama really ought to rethink this one.