JUNE 19, 2013
PLAYING IT SAFE IN BERLIN by Annette Heuser The crowd that welcomed Barack Obama to the east side of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate did so with enthusiasm if not with the euphoria that greeted candidate Obama five years ago down the road at the city’s Victory Column. Realism has set in, and the German public has tamped down their expectations of the US president. They may still have been disappointed by today’s performance. In his speech, the president checked all the right boxes: He spoke approvingly of battling climate change, nuclear proliferation, terrorism and AIDS, and the necessity of creating economies that serve people. But Mr Obama missed an opportunity to give Berlin a needed wake-up call to "lean in" for the trans-Atlantic partnership. Only by reading between the lines can one discern the president’s general message that democracies cannot detach themselves from today’s international security obligations. That’s unfortunate since Germany has become in the last several years an unpredictable and inscrutable partner for the US. From its non-engagement in Libya to its hardline course for eurozone austerity, Berlin has increasingly been seen on the other side of the Atlantic as opaque and erratic. A series of misunderstandings and frustrations, large and small, has eroded the mutual enthusiasm and trust that was once the hallmark of the German-American alliance. President Obama’s speech reflected this unfortunate state of affairs. Rather than making history with an iconic message to the German public, he played it safe. He could have delivered his generic comments almost anywhere. The text was boilerplate material for partners and allies; it never found the right tone for an ally that needs reminding of the engagement required for maintaining that essential German-American bond.