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The Barack Show

Berlin Reopens World Cup 'Fan Mile' for Obama

By Philipp Wittrock in Berlin

Don't bring bags or placards, but make sure to smile for the camera! Barack Obama doesn't want to let anything steal the show at his Berlin debut, where the streets and the Victory Column are being transformed into a "fan mile" for the US Democratic Party's presidential candidate.

The profile, distinctive. The eyes, visionary. The mouth, just cracked enough to show that the man has something to say. The poster and flyers say it all. In big white-on-blue letters, they announce that the Barack Obama Show is coming to Berlin.

The campaign team of the presumed Democratic presidential candidate has already had the advertising theme on file for quite some time now. With all the wrangling over the last few days, all the graphic designer has had to do -- a number of times -- is switch out the name of the event location: first the Brandenburg Gate, then the Gendarmenmarkt, then Templehof airport and now -- finally: "Tiergarten, Siegessäule, Am Grossen Stern (east side), Berlin."

When all is said and done, Thursday's speech will have been the only outdoor public speech delivered by the political pop star on European soil. "It's a one-of-a-kind event," says Michael Steltzer, "a gift to the city." Steltzer is the American head of the Berlin chapter of Democrats Abroad, the official organization representing American Democrats living in foreign countries. Obama's visit has nothing to do with the organization, but the Democrats Abroad here want to help make sure that as many people as possible show up to listen to Obama deliver his speech, which is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and is expected to last a little less than an hour.

More than 13,000 US citizens are officially registered as residents of Berlin, and Steltzer is convinced that Americans living in nearby countries will make a pilgrimage to Germany to get a glimpse of their idol. Steltzer learned from some fellow Democrats in Paris that some of them were hoping to make the trip to Berlin. Democrats Abroad in neighboring Denmark and the Netherlands have announced similar plans. And Christine Marques, who heads Democrats Abroad, will be coming to Germany's capital on Thursday from Switzerland.

Whether it turns out to be a couple thousand or a million, no one knows for sure how many people will ultimately converge near the Grosse Stern traffic circle in the middle of Berlin's Tiergarten park, the geographical heart of the city. And there is very little time left for dealing with the organization and logistics of the event. Nonetheless, city officials seem to be taking a laid back approach to Obama's planned speech. "There's nothing left that can shock us," an official at the municipal office in charge of the event says. After the Love Parade and the so-called "fan miles" held for soccer fans in the Tiergarten for the 2006 World Cup and the 2008 European Championship that persistently drew crowds of over 1 million beer-swilling soccer enthusiasts, Obama's appearance should be a piece of cake.

A Fan Mile for the Presidential Candidate

Obama is going to get his fan mile, too, and construction on it will get underway on Tuesday. The stage has to be set just right so that the TV cameras fixed on Obama will be able to capture him, the crowd and the Brandenburg Gate looming in the distance behind him in one shot. Of course, the senator would have preferred to speak at the gate itself, but Angela Merkel's Chancellery put up stiff -- and successful -- opposition to that idea.

And lest people standing in the back rows can't get a good view of the speech, they'll be able to watch it on enormous screens set up by the authorities, just like there were for the soccer fan miles. A handful of the country's biggest national TV and cable news networks plan to show the speech live. The major US networks also appear to be planning to broadcast the event live from the German capital on Thursday.

Starting at 4 p.m., Obama fans will be allowed to start converging around the Grosse Stern and the Strasse des 17. Juni, the wide boulevard running east-west between the traffic circle and the Brandenburg Gate. But they won't be allowed to bring much more than the shirts on their backs. "Please limit your possessions to personnel effects," reads the poster, which also warns that people carrying bags will be the first to be denied access for security reasons. Security measures in the area surrounding the stage will be tight. The German Federal Police Office has classified the Obama event as a class-two danger level ("a terrorist attack cannot be ruled out"), and more than 700 officers are planned for the event.

Placards and banners have been banned around the Siegessäule -- Obama's team clearly doesn't want to leave anything to chance. They don't want to see anti-McCain slogans or anti-American statements that wouldn't be well-received back home. One thing you can be sure about, though, is that Obama's campaign helpers will have packed enough merchandising articles to make sure that they get some fantastic images from Berlin. For some time now, T-shirts bearing the slogan "Berlin for Obama" have been available for purchase on the Internet.

The Berlin-based PR agency helping to organize the event hasn't answered questions about whether there will be any warm-up acts before the speech, if German sausages or American-style hamburgers will be on offer and whether the concession stands will be pouring German soft drinks or Coke. The word is that all the details will be set on Tuesday.

A Crammed Schedule

Before Obama's appearance at the Siegessäule, he has meetings penciled in his day planner with some of Germany's leading politicians. Just after 10 a.m., Obama's Boeing 757 will land in the military area of Berlin's Tegel airport. The plane, recently dubbed "Obama One," wears "Change We Can Believe In" livery. There won't be an official reception on the tarmac, but Angela Merkel will host Obama at her Chancellery at 11 a.m. Then, in the early afternoon, he'll have a chance to meet Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The schedule includes some time for photo sessions, but no press conferences are planned.

To a large extent, Obama's schedule for the afternoon is still top secret. A widely reported in the Berlin media has it that Obama might make a little sightseeing tour through the capital and stop at some of the historical highlights, such as Tempelhof Airport, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall Memorial and the Holocaust Memorial.

There's also no word yet as to when and where Obama will meet with Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit. On Wednesday, Wowereit will be in Athens for Greek singer Nana Mouskouri's farewell concert. He'll be interrupting his vacation especially for Obama's visit, and taxpayers in Berlin are expected to get stuck picking up the tab for his business trip back.

According to all official statements, Obama has yet to make plans to meet with expat Americans living in Berlin. But Michael Steltzer and his fellow Democrats still plan to take advantage of Obama's appearance to register as many US citizens to vote as possible at information stands. "We're looking for the needle in the haystack," Steltzer says, "and Obama is our magnet."

After the speech, a number of Democrats will cap off the evening at the Max und Moritz pub and restaurant in Berlin's Kreuzberg neighborhood, where singer Roberta Kelly will perform a song she wrote about Obama especially for the occasion. But Steltzer isn't getting his hopes up that the political star will be present in person to hear the song before he retires for the evening in the Hotel Adlon, Berlin's luxury hotel just a stone's throw away from the Brandenburg Gate.