Free of History and Politics, Berlin Is Perfect for Obama

Forget the chatter about whether Barack Obama should be stopping in Brussels or giving Germany pride of place over France and Britain. Berlin is “quite an appropriate setting” for the candidate's big European speech, Cameron Abadi writes for the New Republic. The “existential angst of the Cold War” is completely gone, and the town—like the candidate—has moved on to inspire a new generation.

Indeed, not only has Berlin been “drained of its political drama,” but the "Victory Column," originally an emblem of German military power, has been “largely cleansed of its historical associations,” and is now best known as the site of the Love Parade, an annual techno music festival. As a man who doesn’t want to “dwell on the wounds of the past,” Obama has picked just the right spot. (More Barack Obama stories.)