Thursday, July 24, 2008

Charisma plus

Actually I thought it was a good speech, earnest but unpretentious in tone, intelligent in its evocations of place (Berlin Wall as model for all divisions a bit facile, but Berlin Airlift as model for rich countries assisting poor ones a nice touch), capacious in reference and restrained in length (though that did make it a bit of an It's-A-Small-World-After-All whirl). And yet, what's not to like about partnership, about mutual aid, about facing challenges together and listening to each other? The kaleidoscope of references, bouncing across the globe in almost every sentence, remind of or promise all the things we could and should come together to work out... (A nuclear-free world was a surprise, but not an unpleasing one...)

And yet questions nag: what was any candidate for office in another country doing speaking in public in Berlin? And can one really address the world from Germany with only one reference (the word "tyranny") to what preceded the quest for freedom "we" supposedly all share?