No matter what the Republican strategists and right wing pundits on TV say, no one can convince me that the majority of Americans don't want the United States to regain our moral authority, that we don't want to be respected again by the rest of the world, or that we're not ready for the world to again look to us as a beacon of hope.
The world is waiting to love us again. They did, once. It can happen again.
But it won't happen with John McCain.
Wow. Throngs of Europeans waving American flags and cheering for an American political leader instead of burning our president in effigy. It's been a while.
Senator Kerry commented on the importance of Barack Obama's speech.
Video Credit: MSNBC
Once again, the McCain campaign used the occasion to bash the Democratic nominee. Obama gave a speech before 200,000 in front of Berlin's Victory Column urging the nations of the world to work together toward our common goals, and Germans waved American flags and cheered for our country in reply. Rather than take pride in that great moment, the McCain camp found fault. McCain's people didn't mention their candidate's recent speeches in Canada, London, or his Columbia photo op when they whined about Obama's speech in Germany. Maybe because a quarter of a million people didn't show up to hear what McCain had to say. Maybe it's because it didn't fit their talking points. When questioned about McCain's Canada speech, a Republican strategist actually excused it because Canada "is on the same continent". Oh, OK. It's not 'overseas'. Well that's different, then.
I really don't know what could be more important for our national security than to have the rest of the world's admiration and respect. And I'm not sure why McCain has a problem with it, except that it's not him on the receiving end of that admiration. It couldn't be that he cares more about winning an election than winning the hearts and minds of the rest of the world.
Could it?
Maybe McCain was just mad because he didn't get to make his oil rig speech, what with the massive oil spill that shut down the Mississippi. Instead, he was seen knocking over an applesauce display and speaking before cheese in a grocery store before heading to a German restaurant in Columbus for brats and cream puffs.
Weenies and cream puffs. Interesting choice.
