Not up there with Kennedy or Reagan’s but Obama’s Berlin speech did its job

‘Politics stops at the water’s edge’ is one of the most frequently invoked rules in US politics, so giving a campaign speech overseas carried a risk for Obama. However, he carried it off fairly well and his campaign will have been delighted by the visuals; the paean to America with which he ended the speech was pitch-perfect for campaign ad.

The Obama campaign’s decision to start the speech with the Berlin airlift was astute as it allowed Obama to praise the city he was speaking in and deploy some good old fashioned anti-Communist rhetoric. Indeed, several times Obama flicked at phrases from the great Cold war speeches that Kennedy or Reagan delivered in Berlin.

Most of the content of the speech was fairly bland; Obama didn’t want to be seen to be politicking overseas. He urged Europe to do more in Afghanistan, the US more on climate change and there was a cleverly phrased call for support for the Iraqi people.