Is that our message to the post-Cold War world?
For anyone with a sense of history and a devotion to his country and no political parti pris, this speech -- compare it to the eloquent words/striking images of JFK, Ronald Reagan in Berlin -- was a PD/PR disaster.
Whoever is in charge of content/"visuals" at public diplomacy/PR shops at the White House/State Department seems to have no idea of what went on in the twentieth century -- or indeed today, with the revelations on NAS spying on foreigners.
Glass walls? Is that the USA message to the world?
Evidently, "Diplomatic security," the Secret Service, reign. They should be quizzed on history -- or, even more important, simple tact on dealing with foreign audiences.
Image from
June 30 addition: A far more positive account of the Obama Berlin visit -- from a German publication -- at
1 comment:
My theory is that US PD must now be under the direction of magician David Blaine as President Obama seemed to be speaking from inside a giant plastic box and was plainly attempting some kind of escape. His greeting 'Hello Berlin' and the jacket off thing were both straight from Vegas. And what about asking God to bless the peoples of Germany in plural? A little presumptive? I wish he'd been more like that terrific young senator who spoke in Berlin back in the summer of 2008. What ever happened to that guy?
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