Obama to demand more from Europe in Berlin

Obama held talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel after arriving in the German capital from Israel on a trip he hopes will burnish his foreign policy credentials and boost his election chances against Republican challenger John McCain.

In the evening he will speak at the "Victory Column" in Berlin's Tiergarten Park, an address German media are comparing to former President John F. Kennedy's 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. A crowd in the tens of thousands is expected.

In the 45-minute open-air appearance, Obama will ask Europe to shoulder more of the burden to help deal with global security threats, an aide to the Democratic senator told Reuters.

In Kabul on Sunday, Obama described the situation in Afghanistan as precarious and urgent. Both he and McCain have said Europe must step up its efforts there, but Merkel has said there are limits to what Germany, which already has plans to boost its troop numbers by 1,000 later this year, can do.

"Hopefully (the speech) will be viewed as a substantive articulation of the relationship I'd like to see between the United States and Europe," Obama told reporters in Israel before leaving for Germany.

"I'm hoping to communicate across the Atlantic the value of that relationship and how we need to build on it."

Relations between the United States and Germany reached a post-war low under Merkel's predecessor Gerhard Schroeder, who strongly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

But the conservative Merkel, who grew up behind the Wall in the communist East, has worked hard to repair ties and emerged as one of President George W. Bush's closest allies in Europe.

Smiling and making small talk, she and Obama shook hands in the Chancellery before their talks. Obama will also meet German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit before heading on to Paris on Friday.

BRANDENBURG GATE DEBATE
Merkel opposed the Obama campaign's initial plan to hold the speech at the Brandenburg Gate, the historic landmark that stood on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall for decades and became a potent symbol of the Cold War.

Merkel has said the landmark -- where President Ronald Reagan famously urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" -- is a place for presidents, not candidates to speak. Her advisers tried to convince the Obama campaign to hold the speech at a university or other low-key location.

Around 700 policemen are providing security and traffic around the "Siegessaeule", a 230 foot (70 meter) high column built to celebrate 19th century Prussian military victories over Denmark, France and Austria, has been blocked off.

A Pew Research Center poll showed Germans favor Obama over McCain by a 49 point margin. Influential weekly Der Spiegel dedicated its latest issue to the visit, putting a picture of Obama on the cover and the title "Germany meets the Superstar".

German television stations were providing full-day coverage and some will broadcast the speech live.

Asked if he had read the Cold War speeches delivered by Reagan and Kennedy in Berlin to prepare for his own trip, Obama said unlike the two presidents, he was just "a citizen".

"Obviously, Berlin is representative of the extraordinary success of the post-war efforts to bring the continent and to bring the West together," he said.

Photo: AP