20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

[classicman]

Some people think Obama should have been there representing us instead of a subordinate. Guess it wasn't important enough.

World leaders past and present will be in Berlin today for the 20th anniversary of the fall of communist repression's most visible symbol: the 112-mile concrete wall that split the city for more than a quarter-century.

Conspicuously absent: the president of the United States, Barack Obama.

Obama's folks say he's too busy to accept German President Angela Merkel's invitation to attend today's festivities.

It's pathetic that Obama won't be there -- and telling, as well.

After all, it was one of his own supposed heroes, President John F. Kennedy, who famously flew to Berlin in 1963 and denounced the wall as "an affront to history" when he memorably proclaimed to all the world: "Ich bin ein Berliner."

And it was another predecessor, Ronald Reagan, who even more famously stood before the heinous barrier and declared: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

But, then, Reagan -- like JFK -- viewed the Cold War as a defining battle between freedom and oppressive totalitarianism. And it was a war, he said, that the West, led by America, had to win.

For Reagan, that meant ongoing confrontation with what he rightly called "the Evil Empire." By openly declaring that America would never allow the Soviet bloc to triumph, he paved the way for the collapse not only of the Berlin Wall but of communism itself.

It was also, he understood, the triumph of American exceptionalism, leadership and strength.

All of which runs counter to Obama's view of America's global role -- and how to deal with adversaries.

Link

Despite the mind-boggling number of issues he must attend to – was it a mistake for President Obama to refrain from traveling to Germany for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall?

According to Le Figaro’s chief editorialist, Pierre Rousselin, President Obama not only missed a chance to demonstrate the strength of democracy, he showed how low Europe is on his list of priorities.

For Le Figaro, Pierre Rousselin writes in part:

“The absence of Barack Obama in Berlin yesterday, among the leaders of countries which have been central to our history, is a telling confirmation of his indifference toward a continent that is no longer a priority for the United States.

“But it was also a missed opportunity: the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolizes the firmness of democracies in the face of oppression. America, like Europe, should be inspired by this event to tear down all walls, in Iran, Afghanistan, the Middle East and elsewhere.”

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and Central and Eastern Europeans were freed from the constraints of communism. Twenty years later, the world that President Obama inherited from Ronald Reagan’s legacy is profoundly changed. Those suffering under planned economies and the denial civil rights are now living in free market economies and democracies. On the twentieth anniversary of this historic day Obama was absent. Instead, he sent his Secretary of State to Berlin in his place. Dr. Nile Gardiner points out that the administration added further insult to injury when Secretary Clinton ended her speech with a tribute to President Obama’s commitment to diversity and breaking down barriers to discrimination. Displaying an air of indifference and narcissism in no way endears Central and Eastern Europe to the United States.

Perhaps Obama should pay more attention to America’s greatest European allies in their unfinished quest for equality and prosperity. In the wake of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, The Pew Global Attitudes Project released their report, “Two Decades after the Wall’s Fall: End of Communism Cheered but Now with More Reservations.” The report reveals that those people of “former Iron Curtain countries generally look back approvingly at the collapse of communism” and the majorities of people in most former Soviet republics and Eastern European countries endorse the emergence of multiparty systems and a free market economy.” However, since 1991 when the original survey was conducted, “the initial widespread enthusiasm about these changes has dimmed in most of the countries surveyed.”

I hadn't looked at it as a lost opportunity . . . interesting perspective.