Obama Cancels Plans to Attend Berlin Wall Anniversary

[thundley4]

US President Barack Obama has shelved his plans to attend festivities marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will reportedly take his place at the Nov. 9 celebrations.
Germany is going to have to wait longer than expected for US President Barack Obama's first official visit. Citing government sources in Berlin, Reuters reported on Friday that Obama will not attend the anniversary festivities marking two decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event will take place on Nov. 9 -- just two days before Obama embarks on a long-planned trip to Asia on Nov. 11.

According to the German television channel n-tv, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will stand in for the president. It is considered unlikely that her husband, the former President Bill Clinton, will accompany her.
Berlin is going all out for the anniversary, with such luminaries as Kofi Annan, Mikhail Gorbachev and Lech Walesa expected to be in attendance. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing hard to complete ongoing coalition negotiations soon so that her government is fully formed in time for the festivities.

Despite Obama's absence, however, Merkel will get some face time with the US president in early November. She is planning to travel to Washington and will be addressing a joint session of US Congress on Nov. 3.

Obama has not visited Berlin since taking power. He was in Germany briefly in June, when he made stops in Dresden and at the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial. It was during that trip that Merkel extended the invitation for Obama to help Germany celebrate the fall of the Wall.

  Spiegel

I bet he finds the time to receive the Nobel Piece_{of shit} Prize in person.  Of course since Ronald Reagan played a part in the fall of the wall, that is all the more reason not to draw attention to it with his presence.

[Mustang]

Of course Obama would not attend the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall.
He's a fan of the red army. 

[debk]

I am shocked.....SHOCKED I SAY...that Obama is missing a travel opportunity!!!

I call BS on it's because he's leaving for Asia 2 days later. The way he travels he could have gone to Germany first then across Europe onto wherever it is he's going.

He's has another reason for not going and it certainly isn't the feeble excuse the White House is giving out....

[AllosaursRus]

  Spiegel

I bet he finds the time to receive the Nobel Piece_{of shit} Prize in person.  Of course since Ronald Reagan played a part in the fall of the wall, that is all the more reason not to draw attention to it with his presence.

Being "peace" is sup[posed to be the underlying topic for the "prize", someone want to explain why Renauldous Reagan was never was contemplated?  They gave it to the guy with bird shit dripping off his forhead, for cripes sake!

The man that ended the cold war, brought down the Berlin Wall, and these elite bastards never even nominated him, at least as far as I know.

INGRATES!!!!!!111111

[atruevoice]

I feel that Obama won the Nobel Piece prize because the world is trying to suck his dick, its actually kind of a sick obsession, I'm startiing to dislike our president.

[Zathras]

I feel that Obama won the Nobel Piece prize because the world is trying to suck his dick, its actually kind of a sick obsession, I'm startiing to dislike our president.

Well, maybe there is hope for you after all, youngling.

[atruevoice]

Bill Clinton is to monica Lewisky as
Europe is to Obama

Monica Lewinsky:Bill Clinton as
______________: Obama

[docstew]

ATV, it is a hopeful sign that you are expressing some level of dislike for the cult of personality being built up around the current occupant of 1600 Penn. Ave.  Now, look at the national media's coverage of him and decide for yourself whether that cult is only in Europe, or whether it extends to America.

[atruevoice]

I started to really watch FOX in an effort to defend my liberal roots, however I have been learning a lot, especially off of Beck, he basically takes things that are difficult to understand and makes it easy to understand using simple teaching techniques, although I still thing he is a little off the wall I do understand his point, I don't think most Americans are part of this "Cult", in fact I think most people are too busy with their own problems to really be worried about the governmnet and perhaps thats why the administration see the opportunity to basically take advantage of the situation to get what they want. I didn't realize the amount of debt that they have run up already until I saw a segment from last week, what really is bothering me though is the fact that the administration refuses to talk to FOX because they question the White House, makes it seem like they are hiding something or don't want to be questioned.

[Chris_]

Definition of a conservative:

A liberal who has been mugged by reality.

[TheSarge]

I started to really watch FOX in an effort to defend my liberal roots, however I have been learning a lot, especially off of Beck, he basically takes things that are difficult to understand and makes it easy to understand using simple teaching techniques, although I still thing he is a little off the wall I do understand his point,

I think that his off the wall delivery...which is an extension from his radio show is part of what helps people remember what he's explaining.

As is the case with you.

I don't think most Americans are part of this "Cult",

You're right they aren't.  Google up one of those red state blue state maps.  Then look at where the concentration of blue is...urban inner city...ACORN territory.

Even in California there's a lot more red than you'd expect.

in fact I think most people are too busy with their own problems to really be worried about the governmnet and perhaps thats why the administration see the opportunity to basically take advantage of the situation to get what they want.

[/b]

BINGO!!!  They are counting on the disinterest about national affairs and people being more worried about the 50 meter target rather than what's happening in the future.

Excellent observation.

I didn't realize the amount of debt that they have run up already until I saw a segment from last week,

The thing is...they don't want you to know...and they are counting on every news organization not named Fox to not report it.

They are treating the American people like mushrooms.

what really is bothering me though is the fact that the administration refuses to talk to FOX because they question the White House, makes it seem like they are hiding something or don't want to be questioned.

And the reason why was revealed yesterday by the WH communications director.  They want to control what the media areports.  They want to shape the reporting...what the media is told and who it's told to as well as by whom.

See Fox peeled back the curtain on Van Jones and ACORN to show the corruption this administration is collaborating with and in this WH that's a big no no.  God forbid we have the truth get out to the people!

[TheSarge]

Definition of a conservative:

A liberal who has been mugged by reality.

Or my favorite:

How do you tell a Communist?
Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin.
And how do you tell an anti-Communist?
It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin. - Ronald Reagan

[Chris_]

Or my favorite:

How do you tell a Communist?
Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin.
And how do you tell an anti-Communist?
It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin. - Ronald Reagan

I've never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a 'fat cat' and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a 'public-spirited philanthropist'.
Ronald Reagan

[debk]

Whether you(generic) think Glenn Beck is off the wall, a crazy loon that cries....or any of the other descriptive phrases being used to describe the man... he is making it very easy to understand what he is questioning.

I have him on the TV most afternoons and his new way of using the blackboard to draw out the connections....I thought the "family tree" was quite effective....he is making it very easy to understand the connections - both strong and tenuous - of Obama and his Merry Band of Idiots.

He asks the questions that many of us have, or are starting to have, regarding our President and the company he keeps.

And Beck is looking for the answers, the connections, the truth. He backs up what he says with written transcript, a video, or a book quote written by the individual he "researching". He isn't taking someone else's word or rumor about a person. He and his researchers are doing the digging.

As Vesta said....Obama said to "check him out"....and Beck is doing that.

I sincerely hope Beck has bodyguards that can't be bought by those Beck is investigating....

[DixieBelle]

it's merely due dilligence to check out our politcal leaders. ATV...trust but verify. Always.

[jinxmchue]

The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the fall of Socialism.  No surprise that Obama doesn't want to be there.

[ColonialMarine0431]

"Tear down this wall!"

Something Obama doesn't understand. Peace through superior firepower.

[Chris_]

I started to really watch FOX in an effort to defend my liberal roots, however I have been learning a lot, especially off of Beck, he basically takes things that are difficult to understand and makes it easy to understand using simple teaching techniques, although I still thing he is a little off the wall I do understand his point, I don't think most Americans are part of this "Cult", in fact I think most people are too busy with their own problems to really be worried about the governmnet and perhaps thats why the administration see the opportunity to basically take advantage of the situation to get what they want. I didn't realize the amount of debt that they have run up already until I saw a segment from last week, what really is bothering me though is the fact that the administration refuses to talk to FOX because they question the White House, makes it seem like they are hiding something or don't want to be questioned.

Hope for you yet, perhaps there is, young Jedi........

doc

[Eupher]

I was stationed in Berlin on that Thursday evening not quite 20 years ago when some East German bureaucrat, speaking somewhat off the cuff, basically announced that the Wall was open.

I'd been in Berlin since January, 1983, and had seen several things that convinced me that socialism sucks and communism is maybe just a notch or two removed from socialism.

Major Arthur Nicholson was shot and killed in April, 1985, by a trigger-happy Soviet sentry.

The Glienicke bridge, aka "Freedom Bridge" that separates Berlin from Potsdam and hence West Berlin from East Germany, was used to trade spies.

On more than one occasion I saw Soviet officers cruising the streets of West Berlin and even parked outside our kasernes (bases) observing. (That was permitted, to a degree.)

When the Wall came down, everything changed. Berlin is not the same city as it was when it was West Berlin. I miss the old West Berlin, actually, and I'm not convinced that tearing the Wall down was altogether a good thing -- but I say that from a nostalgic and selfish perspective.

My youngest daughter, 23 years old, still lives in Berlin. She bitches and moans about the city, but she won't leave, either.

Ich habe noch einen Koffer in Berlin.

[Chris_]

I was stationed in Berlin on that Thursday evening not quite 20 years ago when some East German bureaucrat, speaking somewhat off the cuff, basically announced that the Wall was open.

I'd been in Berlin since January, 1983, and had seen several things that convinced me that socialism sucks and communism is maybe just a notch or two removed from socialism.

Major Arthur Nicholson was shot and killed in April, 1985, by a trigger-happy Soviet sentry.

The Glienicke bridge, aka "Freedom Bridge" that separates Berlin from Potsdam and hence West Berlin from East Germany, was used to trade spies.

On more than one occasion I saw Soviet officers cruising the streets of West Berlin and even parked outside our kasernes (bases) observing. (That was permitted, to a degree.)

When the Wall came down, everything changed. Berlin is not the same city as it was when it was West Berlin. I miss the old West Berlin, actually, and I'm not convinced that tearing the Wall down was altogether a good thing -- but I say that from a nostalgic and selfish perspective.

My youngest daughter, 23 years old, still lives in Berlin. She bitches and moans about the city, but she won't leave, either.

Ich habe noch einen Koffer in Berlin.

Although I haven't been there since the wall came down, I hear that from friends that have.....just not the same.  our daughter travels there a lot, and likes Berlin, but all of her visits are contemporary, so she has no reference for comparison.

doc

[seabelle]

He had the time to go to Copenhagen. 

[Carl]

Something about this strikes me as a deliberate snub not of Germany or the event but of Chancellor Merkel.
I don`t doubt that the fall of the wall is a non event in his leftist mind but this just seems to be more of a slap in the face to the current (conservative by European standards) leader.

[Odin's Hand]

He'll be there with a cement mixer (state-owned of course) when they are ready to put it back up.

[Chris_]

Reagan represents everything Oooobama isn't and never will be....successful, popular, intelligent, etc.

[IassaFTots]

I was stationed in Berlin on that Thursday evening not quite 20 years ago when some East German bureaucrat, speaking somewhat off the cuff, basically announced that the Wall was open.

I'd been in Berlin since January, 1983, and had seen several things that convinced me that socialism sucks and communism is maybe just a notch or two removed from socialism.

Major Arthur Nicholson was shot and killed in April, 1985, by a trigger-happy Soviet sentry.

The Glienicke bridge, aka "Freedom Bridge" that separates Berlin from Potsdam and hence West Berlin from East Germany, was used to trade spies.

On more than one occasion I saw Soviet officers cruising the streets of West Berlin and even parked outside our kasernes (bases) observing. (That was permitted, to a degree.)

When the Wall came down, everything changed. Berlin is not the same city as it was when it was West Berlin. I miss the old West Berlin, actually, and I'm not convinced that tearing the Wall down was altogether a good thing -- but I say that from a nostalgic and selfish perspective.

My youngest daughter, 23 years old, still lives in Berlin. She bitches and moans about the city, but she won't leave, either.

Ich habe noch einen Koffer in Berlin.

Wow.  That is cool.  My mom was there in 66, when my Dad was at Stuttgart.  Her stories always amazed me growing up.