German Crafts Obama Doll

'Hope' debuts in Germany, and it's as awful as you might imagine

(NEWSER) - Hope—The Obama Musical Story is not political, insists its composer—“Right, but only in the sense that Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will was just a documentary.” The musical premiered in Germany (where the president is still a “messiah”), and it’s pure “political propaganda”—not to mention “premature,” writes Daniel Schwammenthal in the Wall Street Journal . “Even Jesus Christ had to wait nearly 2,000 years before he became a Superstar.” More»

And yes, there's a Sarah Palin character

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's 2008 campaign is the subject of Hope!, a musical set to premiere Jan. 17 in Frankfurt. The production features musical-theater versions of the major players: Michelle, Hillary—looking quite young—John McCain and even Sarah Palin, who sings a solo surrounded by scantily clad dancers. Writer and composer Randall Hutchins, who is American, tells Der Spiegel he got the idea for the production "right at the start of Obama's electoral campaign. I found the atmosphere exciting and that was my inspiration." More»

(NEWSER) - Europeans may have longer lives and longer vacations, but red-blooded Americans don't want their socialist ways on this side of the ocean, right wing media mouths are eager to remind everyone, MIchael Freedman writes in Newsweek. Underlying much of the opposition to health care reform is the fear that it's part of an anti-American conspiracy to transform the US into a "European social welfare state," according to Rush Limbaugh. More»

Economy, Afghanistan cloud chancellor's talks with Obama

(NEWSER) - Angela Merkel arrives in Washington today for a two-day visit, where the German chancellor will hold talks with President Obama before a rare joint press conference in the Rose Garden. Yet despite the smiles, the two leaders have a strained if not frosty relationship, with both sides carping about economic policy, the GM bailout, and the war in Afghanistan. "The chancellor is not interested in joining the competition for who gets along best with Obama," a Merkel aide told the FT. More»

European leaders feel burned after visit by popular president

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s dizzying, 2-day jaunt through Europe left two people smarting in his dust: Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel. France’s president and Germany’s chancellor learned that Obama, not one to pal around with European leaders, keeps his distance. “Obama is not out to play buddy-buddy with Sarko or any other European leader,” Charles Bremner writes for the Times of London. More»