At the Brandenburg Gate
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In case you missed the speech:
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“President, I worked with George Bush, I knew George Bush …. you’re no George Bush. Thank ****.”
Here’s something you probably won’t see on American TV, reception Pres. Obama got when he arrived at Brandenburg Gate http://t.co/gJgyifgRHI
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) June 19, 2013
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First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters Malia and Sasha visit the Berlin Wall memorial at Bernauer Strasse
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President Obama & First Lady Michelle Obama arrive for dinner with Chancellor Merkel and her husband Joachim Sauer
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On a scale of 0-10, how good was UT’s coverage today? We’re talking 11, right? Endless, endless, endless thanks, UT! See all the posts below for her mighty work – and click here for every post on the Germany trip
More from Germany later.
The Obama Diary 
Yay!
Congrats!
Yep – this coverage is off the charts!! Congrats, UT, #1
Deux
Aww…thank you Chiparoo. More posts about the German trip will be coming soon from moi! 😀
Hugs to ya, you’re a gem!
More! Thanks! I cannot get enough. 😆 😆
‘Scale of 0-10’? Being a harsh critic, I’m going to say 14½. Very, very well done, Utal, and very timely!! You ‘wow’ me, ‘girl’!
“14½”
😆 What’s the ½ about???
/angelic look/ Because I’m a serious critic. If I wasn’t I’d have said 15. She didn’t wait each time for
meall the guests to arrive.Had to bring this ove from last thread:
128Eveingeorgia
June 19, 2013 at 2:18 pm
Well now Donna Brazille has taken to bashing the president, her claim is that he hasn’t donee noigh to unite the nation. Can you Clive this crap?
Reply
How much did Clinton and Gore do to united the nation. I sense it’s bash Obama time, so you want alittle attention, you want to get on tv, bash Obama. But how a woman like Donna Brazile could think that this country is not united because Obama didn’t unite it is just plain foolish.
Donna Brazile is also currently Vice Chairwoman of the DNC but yet criticizing PBO.
The DNC number is 202-863-8000
Thanks Bill. I just called the DNC to stop my monthly donation, because of Donna Brazile’s comments. I will contribute to candidates that
aren’t telling the President what he is doing wrong.
AB. I don’t believe for one minute she really thinks that. She’s an attention whore and wants someone to think she’s still relevant. Frankly, I never thought she was much of a serious thinker and I’ve never really trusted her.
This doesn’t surprise. She has her moments when she says things like this to keep her job. Her tweets are often more supportive than her cable appearances.
That’s okay. Just ignore her. What does she want President Obama to do? Hypnotize bigots into liking him? He’s not a dictator or a wizard. He won re-election. He’s trying to do some good for all Americans. He’s reached out to the Repubs over and over again. Brazille needs to find something else to do. How is this helpful for Hilary Clinton (or whoever runs in 2016)?
Love that dress on FLOTUS.
My thoughts exactly! I’d wear it — so fun.
Oh wow, I guess I am really upset.
I meant to write: her claim is he has not done enough to unite the nation. He could have don better…
Can you believe this crap?
Donna Brazile has a blog with a contact page. Simply google “Donna Brazile”.
Thank you Bill, I’m heading there right now.
Thank you so much UT and Chips……fantastic job as usual……
Is merkel’s dress a cross between a full skirt and a pant ?
She’s not wearing a dress. She’s wearing a jacket and a pants. They’re called wide-leg pants. FLOTUS wore a black pair when she arrived in Berlin.
“jacket and pants”
Something like that. We call it Hosenrock (pantskirts) 😀
Never seen before.
No wonder there are six floors of women’s attire and half a floor of men’s dress in malls.
Personally, left to me, I’d go for the half a floor option for women too – means less time shopping and choices are limited so easier to make. At the same time, I confess I hate to buy anything that has more than one unit on the rack. God forbid there should be three or more units present when *I* see something I like!
Looking at these pictures you can tell FLOTUS is a great Mom.
Thanks UT, for the coverage of today Germany visit (I try to think how that must (not) square with Austin’s CDT – I’m glad I don’t have to do it).
Nice touch to provide a video with all three speeches under the watch of the Brandenburger Tor (amk might not think much about Angela Merkel’s retorical skills, but I found nothing wrong with her “Professorendeutsch”).
Poor Chris……
Chris Matthews was not all that enthused by President Obama’s speech in Berlin on Wednesday, and he thought there was one culprit to blame: the sun.
Obama delivered a wide-ranging speech — in which he called for reductions in America and Russia’s stockpile of nuclear weapons, as well as action against climate change — at the city’s historic Brandenburg Gate.
Matthews reacted to the speech, saying that Obama “struggled” with his speech at times. “The late afternoon sun in Berlin, I think, ruined his use of the teleprompters,” the MSNBC host said, “So his usual dramatic wind-up was ruined.”
Matthews has been a fervent supporter of Obama. He once criticized Obama’s use of a teleprompter, calling it a “menace” for the president.
LOL!
“dramatic wind up was ruined” :-D. Chris is damn crazy
This was not a campaign speech…..so you don’t do a “dramatic wind-up” This was a policy speech…….but bloviators gotta talk…that’s what they do, and for the most part they show how empty their heads are.
I was thinking that this part of the trip had to be pretty intense, especially for Malia and Sasha. I love seeing Michelle with her arm around Sasha as she explains the significance. I’ve been to Germany three times, and it is intense even for an adult, when you go certain places, like Dachau, Nuremberg, the Eagle’s Nest, parts of Munich…..and I know Berlin must be very intense. You truly feel the weight of history in Germany.
I mentioned this book yesterday, but I think it was at the bottom of a segment. It is an excellent view of Berlin in the 30s under Hitler. The title is “In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin” by Erik Larson. It is the story of the American ambassador to Germany and his family. A true story, and more exciting than fiction.
One can expect anything from Tweety but for Donna Brazile, Vice Chairwoman of the DNC, to criticize PBO in The New York Times is outrageous.
I just sent Brazile a email.
Thank You anniebella. You’re really good about holding these people accountable. This is the only way to get them to stop this foolishness.
They must not want any more contributions from me. I will return their envelopes informing them not to look to me until there is an apology.
I did that last week…..
I told them until they stop bad mouthing our President I will only donate to individual candidates of MY choice.
To Matthews, this POTUS must forever, always there to be Gypsy Rose……Entertain him? My two middle digits to Matthews. The guy is the type of bigots that are clueless to their bigotry. His uber superiority is offensive. He made himself the Judge, the prosecution and the Jury just for this POTUS. Let him go directly to Blazes.
Agree on Tweety’s bigotry which he is completely unaware of and would strongly deny.
Chris Mathew’s makes me tired with his constant harping. Next he will be blaming the president for the sun. Frankly, I thought PBO did a terrific job, as usual. He did not need the teleprompter and everyone in the audience in Berlin and around the world got his message.
Tweety is a joke. I would like to see him give a speech in 91 degree weather. He acts like he is PBO’s only audience and PBO does his speeches to please him only. Tweety can go f&&& himself. I turned from MSNBC immediately after PBO spoke, when I saw that group sitting there to criticize. I did not need to hear them tell me anything. I had my own opinion of the speech, and PBO was wonderful.
Linda, I’m not sure what is the source of your post since you didn’t link but the last sentence about Matthews being a “fervent supporter of PBO” is simply not true. Despite all pretenses, Matthews has been one of PBO’s harshest critics – cutting him very little slack whenever there’s the slightest perception of an error (and even where there’s none).
Secondly, Matthews obviously had his speech review, pre-written as per MSNBC orders, and the decision was that they were going to bash PBO no matter what.
This actually reassures me that the speech was very good, and the media is left grasping at straws…
Beautiful.
She’s absolutely stunning in that dress and her smile is so warm. I like that she’s carried out a black and white theme in her clothes during this entire trip. The earrings are magnificent. I’m so short that wearing earrings like that would make me look like a clown. Wish I could though.
Gosh she’s pretty!!
Very nice. I like her hair like that. Still not a fan of the bangs.
Gawjus!
STREAMING NOW: Awaiting Departure of Air Force One from Berlin Tegel Airport
(Click on – Abflug der Airforce One vom Flughafen Berlin-Tegel: http://streema.com/tv/play/N24
NR is a RWNJ on mediaite that write just awful nonsense about Pres Obama, MSNBC and Dems…….always……he has a spin and to discredit Joy Ann is his mission now…..he focuses on her and MHP too.
Oh great. And I just retweeted.
You can unretweet. Simply click again on the retweet button and the green sign will disappear.
thanks!
Love, love the photo of FLOTUS and the girls at the Berlin Wall. I bet this is a real learning experience for them.
OMG, FLOTUS’ dinner dress is a total KNOCKOUT.
My tremendous appreciation to UT, Chips and all our bt community. You Guys, are simply the Very Best. Tina Turner would do the honors.
You all are Unbeatable 😉 Obrigada, Obrigado 🙂
Excellent, sensible article. I think that quote should be spread around and hammered into American minds too!
As the writer said “He doesn’t walk on water” and that’s what was expected of him, so……since he didn’t perform miracles, he’s not living up to expectations……how shallow and short sighted people are.
TY Carolyn……I felt the same way. Kinda sad we have to go to foreign news outlets to get cogent, sensibly articulated articles……
It’s sad, LP, but it’s been true for so many years now that I take it as Gospel that anything in the US media has got to be wrong. Anything emanating from DC media or pundits is loaded with bias. and devoid of credibility. It’s simply not tolerable and I’ve come to regard it as background noise, like heavy traffic or a passing train.
He should tell the US. His approval rating in Germany is approx 86% and Matt Yglesias joked today that after he finishes his second term, PBO should run for Chancellor.
Some of us appreciate him already! Thank you very much.
Yes, I know we saw this once before, but it will surely wipe away the ‘bitterness’ of Tweety and the like from our minds (for a minute or two).
Grandma Still Drives
Grandma is eighty-eight years old and still drives her own car. She writes:
Dear Granddaughter,
The other day I went up to our local Christian bookstore with your young cousin, Brad and saw a ‘Honk if you love Jesus’ bumper sticker. I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had earlier come from a thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting, so, I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper. Boy, am I glad I did! What an uplifting experience followed!
I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good he is, and I didn’t notice that the light had changed. I tell you, it is a good thing someone else there loved Jesus because if he hadn’t honked, I’d probable still be dreaming.
In fact, I’ve found that lots of people love Jesus! While lost in thought about the Lord, the guy behind me started honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his window and screamed,
“For the love of God! Go! Go! Go! Jesus Christ, GOOOOOO!
What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus! AND, lots of others started honking too!
I was so cheered I just leaned out my window and started waving and smiling at all those loving, exuberant Christians. I tell you, Granddaughter, I honked my horn a few times too to express my love.
You know, thinking of it as I write, there must have been a man from Florida back there behind me, because I heard him yelling something about a sunny beach. There was another guy waving in a funny way, with only his middle finger stuck up in the air. I asked your teenage cousin (who was in the back seat) what that meant.
He said it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something. Well, I had never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave the guy the good luck sign right back. Loving Jesus sure could be fun!
Your cousin burst out laughing. Why, even he was enjoying this religious experience!
A couple of drivers were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but it was at this point I noticed the light had changed. So grinning happily I waved at all my brothers and sisters and drove on through the intersection.
I noticed that I was the only car that got through before the light changed again and felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared. So, I slowed the car down, leaned out the window and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away.
Praise the Lord for such wonderful, friendly folks! These days not everyone is willing to share their love of Jesus so publicly!
Will write again soon,
Love,
Grandma.
As for as POTUS speech, maybe next time he will contact Chris Matthews and ask his opinion as to what should go in the speech, how he should read it, etc., etc., Now adays news media can’t report the news, they have to make it. That is what has gotten people so turn off by the media ( not all) but this cable pundits, this WHPC, the MSM. Speaking of the media, how much have they talk about the papers Rep. Elijah Cummings released yesterday, which prove this IRS so call scandal was no scandal. It was made up by the Republicans and the sorry media.
Anniebella, you know that Tweety wrote many of the memorable speeches that President Carter gave. I like President Carter but he was not known for his speeches.
That’s what I was about to ask what memorable speeches Carter gave?
There’s our problem. Now you understand what GG and the RWNJ’s are up to – doing everything they can to keep those non-voters even more determined not to vote.
AB, the total silence on Rep. Cumming’s transcript release tells us what we all knew–the media does not care about the truth. The GOP put out the call to the media to gin up a scandal and try to undermine the president and they all signed up. They even pushed out a distorted poll to prove that they had done a good job. The president’s administration has been scandal free and this just drove them nuts. So, they set out to make up scandals. Too bad for them, they’re lousy at it.
GRRRR Happy to call it ‘news’ when they say, “Republicans say…..” but effing silent when we have actual, verifiable facts. I’m really steaming about this today.
This just tells us that our big job in the next year and a half is to register voters. There are young people turning 18, newly minted US citizens and others who have been too frightened to come to the polls. All of us working together can make a big dent in the non registered group. We can do this.
Well whatdayaknow!
Let’s see if the entire MSM will jump on this poll, run it on their tickers and make it their lead stories.
COS, no they won’t jump on this poll because it doesn’t fit the narrative they want to set. So they will just ignore that poll.
Are you kidding? If it’s not bad news for President Obama, they’re not going to run it.
Important news:
Good.
Sanctioning China? How ist that going to work?
Flashback 2008…….Then Senator Obama’s European Trip.
‘…. what happens (on these trips) is not a blinding insight, but a deepening of a set of concerns that you already have.’ BHO
Not every politician has a set of concerns re the world Pres O, that’s why we are so happy you chose to serve.
Dobba Brazille has been getting it on Twitter like this:
Donna Brazile… correction.
I need to hear from her what magical stunts President Obama should perform to change the minds of those who have made it their sole purpose to defeat everything he proposes. She needs to support our President instead of tearing him down.
LIVE NOW: President Obama Departs Berlin – http://www.cbsnews.com/liveFeed/widget.shtml
Thank you JER!
Here comes the Presdent’s motorcade.
I think Sasha and Malia are already on the plane waiting for Mom and Dad. I hope POTUS had a successful trip, and I hope FLOTUS and the girls enjoy themselves.
POTUS and FLOTUS departing Germany.
Well they are on their way back home.
This dress is definitely in my Top 5 of Michelle’s Best Dresses Ever.
It’s beautiful on her. Really lovely.
I love that dress and FLOTUS looks stunning wearing it.
This one really flatters her body, in addition to it just being downright stunning.
Mine, too, right behind the Jason Wu inauguration successes. And the off-the-shoulder black ball gown that FLOTUS wore with an immense pearl chocker.
That black gown is one of my favorites. Her wardrobe this trip was just gorgeous.
Hello, UT. This photo is a perfect coda to your out-of-the ballpark, superb coverage of the president’s Germany trip. It’s simply been a joy to follow every post you’ve put together.
Thanks Jackie. There’s more coming! 😀
University of Louisville professor announces bid to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130619/NEWS01/306190080
but…but….Acorn!!!!!!
PEW has a Poll out…..Funny it has no resemblance of what TeaNN had on Monday when they used their Lying Poll numbers to debut their New Day show…….They spent all that cash for what? Ratings was much lower in the 18-25 demographics. Karma? Only time will tell.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/in-contrast-to-cnn-poll-pew-shows-stable
Did you guys hear this one today?
Anyone found any video of Merkel welcoming the Obamas for dinner? Can’t find anything for News Youtube webpages.
Nothing but the best!!!
TPM:Igor Bobic – 4:16 PM EDT, Wednesday June 19, 2013
A former Mobile, Alabama County Commissioner who is serving a two-year jail sentence for perjury and harassment is considering launching a bid for the state’s 1st Congressional District.
“I know some will be skeptical of my interest in this congressional race after wrongfully being accused of crimes, drug abuse and personal mistakes,” said Stephen Nodine, a Republican, as quoted by the Alabama Media Group. “I have the determination, the experience and fortitude to serve as congressman for the 1st Congressional District.”
Nodine resigned from the county commission in 2010 after an indictment in the murder of his longtime mistress. Prosecutors eventually dropped the murder charge in a plea deal, when Nodine eventually pled guilty to felony perjury in 2012.
He’s got my vote!
Why is it always ‘mistakes’ when Repubs do something personally despicable?
Question to Donna Brazile and her LA Jambola and all that nonsense is this, She could not win for AL Gore in 2000…..Not in TN. Perhaps, she can tell Us how all that getting along by GW Bush, Clinton helped Unite USA from 1992-2009…Jan? Didn’t she know about the Coup d’etat plot on Jan 20, 2009? How come Clinton with all his Unity ability, failed to stop House GOPers from impeaching Him? It was all that smooching or whatever that got Clinton, Monica, Thong, and Gore winning the popular, but FL going to the way it did.
Brazile is a DNC co-chair……pray tell Brazile, what have YOU and the DNC done in those states not visited by this POTUS to help build Dems? So why Donna Brazile since you are a Co-chair of DNC, and this POTUS as head of DNC why are you writing an Op-Ed about the POTUS? Who gains? Shouldn’t all the dirty Laundry be washed within the DNC and not out in Public?
Last, those stopping their monthly donations…..I hear you, feel your pain…..however, DNC, POTUS is still the Head honcho. Dems need all the help they can get. We need all decks on board for 2014, 2016 and beyond. TBGOPers must be defeated by any means necessary for USA to be fully back to normal.
You should send those questions to her directly. Would love to see her responses.
One of the things to do when I am retired (in 10 years): Visit the US, not just to bicycle from coast to coast, but to actually see some monuments.
New post!
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/06/19/germany-welcomes-the-obamas/