Symbols are not cymbals

Well that didn't take long... yesterday I wrote about Barry Obama's pre-victory lap to open soon in Germany: "Stay tuned to gaffes-a-plenty mixed with overriding and crushing boredom."

Stay with me...

On the 40th anniversary of VE Day, President Reagan participated in several symbolic ceremonies in Germany. One of them was a visit to a small German military cemetery near Bitburg.

Poor advance planning missed the fact that 49 graves held remains of the infamous Waffen SS. The critical mistake was discovered after the President's itinerary was announced here and in Germany.

Reagan took a beating before and after he made the visit to the cemetery from WWII vets, Holocaust survivors and especially almost all democrat senators who formally requested him not to visit Bitburg.

It was a very bad mistake first by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for not even knowing dead SS were interred there, and then by Reagan's men who didn't check and double-check such a sensitive venue.

Further research indicated the most of the SS troopers were only 18-20 and had been drafted into the unit in the later stages of the war.

That added to Reagan's resolve to visit to Bitburg.

Obama is history-deficient:

We now have a parallel kerfuffel caused by a snot-nosed, wet-behind-the-big-ears, junior senator who is using a  European/Middle East grand promenade in an attempt to garner some faux international prestige and stature.

It's what small men do when they lack substance... just posture as if they have it in spades, but then need symbols.

Stiffed in his attempt to mimic Reagan and Jack Kennedy by using the Brandenburg Gate as a prop, he's opted to speak to expected huge  crowds beneath The Siegessäule-- The Victory Column--in Berlin.

The towering  700-foot monument to a tribute Prussia's military dominance and victories in wars against Denmark, Austria and France in the 19th century.

Originally located in front of the Reichstag, Germany's parliament building, it was moved by Adolf Hitler to its current location in 1939 to make way for his planned transformation of Berlin into the Nazi capital "Germania."

Hitler knew very well the power of the such a national symbol... and he co-opted it for his genocidal cause, as it played very well into the Nazi belief in Aryan superiority.

The Siegessäule is hardly an appropriate backdrop for an American politician, and is directly at odds with Obama's canned speech about "hope and change".  

Many Germans are concerned; one member of parliament said, "the Siegessäule is dedicated to victory over neighbors who are today our European friends and allies. It is a problematic symbol."

Where are the leftist press' Reagan-Bitburg howls this time?

But GA, isn't Reagan's mistake worse...?

No; for these reasons:

Kohl had asked Reagan to visit a German military cemetery and Reagan agreed that it would demonstrate the strength of the friendship that existed between Germany and its former foe.

Reagan wanted to publicly acknowledge Kohl's support the US placing Pershing-missiles in West German which countered the Soviet missile threat to Western Europe. Kohl had been steadfast in the face of great public and political in his country.  

Reagan was the leader of the free world and in that role had to play three-dimensional world politics... how would Israel react? What would the Soviets (who suffered greatly at the hands of Hitler and the SS) do with such a propaganda windfall?

Would the error have lasting negative impact on America's interests?

In contrast Obama is a callow opportunist who represents nothing and speaks for no one; he is devoid of world-level political relationships.

He is merely obvious and ignorant, and Europe is watching.

Comments

[Fire@Will]

I do expect Obama's lack of historic and geopolitical knowledge to be revealed during this trip. I also expect the press to mostly ignore (and quickly forget) any and all mistakes.

I also expect a large crowd when he speaks in Europe. After all, there are so many wacky libs and fundamentalist Muslims living there. (I wonder if we'll hear them chanting "Obama Akbar!"?) The anti-America flavor of the crowds could turn American voters against him (despite the media).

I do see why Europeans would really care about our Presidential election. It will probably effect their future (for better or worse) at least as much as the election of their own leaders will.

Semper Fi