Full script of Obama's speech

Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome.

I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.

I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father - my grandfather - was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.

At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning - his dream - required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.

That is why I'm here. And you are here because you too know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.

Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof.

On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade.

This is where the two sides met. And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.

The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army. And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. All that stood in the way was Berlin.

And that's when the airlift began - when the largest and most unlikely rescue in history brought food and hope to the people of this city.

The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold.

But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. "There is only one possibility," he said. "For us to stand together united until this battle is won...The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world: now do your duty...People of the world, look at Berlin!"

People of the world - look at Berlin!

Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.

Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle; where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.

Look at Berlin, where the bullet holes in the buildings and the somber stones and pillars near the Brandenburg Gate insist that we never forget our common humanity.

People of the world - look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.

Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again. History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. When you, the German people, tore down that wall - a wall that divided East and West; freedom and tyranny; fear and hope - walls came tumbling down around the world. From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. Markets opened too, and the spread of information and technology reduced barriers to opportunity and prosperity. While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.

The fall of the Berlin Wall brought new hope. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers - dangers that cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean.

The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil.

As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.

Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all.

In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. Yet, in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth. And if we're honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny.

In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth - that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.

Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more - not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.

The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

We know they have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace. Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together; in the Balkans, where our Atlantic alliance ended wars and brought savage war criminals to justice; and in South Africa, where the struggle of a courageous people defeated apartheid.

So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.

That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe. Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads, and people to assemble where we stand today. And this is the moment when our nations - and all nations - must summon that spirit anew.

This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.

This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.

This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love. With that wall gone, we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.

This is the moment when every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday. In this century, we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad. In this century - in this city of all cities - we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent.

This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all.

This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East. My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions. We must support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy, and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace. And despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.

This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations - including my own - will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one.

And this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world. We must remember that the Cold War born in this city was not a battle for land or treasure. Sixty years ago, the planes that flew over Berlin did not drop bombs; instead they delivered food, and coal, and candy to grateful children. And in that show of solidarity, those pilots won more than a military victory. They won hearts and minds; love and loyalty and trust - not just from the people in this city, but from all those who heard the story of what they did here.

Now the world will watch and remember what we do here - what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?

Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words "never again" in Darfur?

Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?

People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived - at great cost and great sacrifice - to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom - indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us - what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores - is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.

Those are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. Those aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of those aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of those aspirations that all free people - everywhere - became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of those aspirations that a new generation - our generation - must make our mark on history.

People of Berlin - and people of the world - the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. Let us build on our common history, and seize our common destiny, and once again engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world.

NAS & COLOR OF CHANGE.ORG STEP TO FOX NEWS: Rapper and activist organization deliver 600,000 signatures of protest.

As you no doubt know, a lot of black folks are not feeling Fox News because they seem to go out of their way to make African Americans look bad.

If you can identify with the afore mentioned, you're not alone. One of the people feeling your pain is Nas.


Yesterday, the rapper hooked up with ColorOfChange.org to protest outside the network's Manhattan headquarters and present a petition to the news organization. The organization convinced over 600,000 people sign a petition aimed at curbing the news outlet's penchant for biased reporting.


"The organization saw me as someone who could be a part of it, and they reached out," Nas said referring to ColorOfChange.org. "I was like, 'Hell yeah, I'm a part of it!' This is a network that's been going after rappers ... yet Bill O'Reilly uses the phrase 'lynching party' for a woman. That's the worst term I've ever heard to disrespect a woman, and he says it on television. And he doesn't like rappers? Wow."


The grassroots organization heard Nas' lyrical lambasting of Fox on the new song "Sly Fox" and asked him to help with its protest, according to MTV News.

NAS & COLOR OF CHANGE.ORG STEP TO FOX NEWS....

The U.S. Military Has Plenty of Black Troops, Yet Why Do So Few Serve Among its Upper Ranks?

By: Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) Blacks have made great strides in the military since it was integrated 60 years ago, but they still struggle to gain a foothold in the higher ranks, where less than 6 percent of U.S. general officers are African-American.

At a ceremony commemorating the day President Truman ordered the desegregation of the armed forces, military officials and black leaders said the U.S. must not rest on its laurels.

"My hope and expectation is that, in the years ahead, more African-Americans will staff the armed forces at the highest levels," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a crowd that included many black former service members. "We must make sure the American military continues to be a great engine of progress and equality."

While blacks make up about 17 percent of the total force, they are just 9 percent of all officers, according to data obtained and analyzed by The Associated Press.

The rarity of blacks in the top ranks is apparent in one startling statistic: Only one of the 38 four-star generals or admirals serving as of May was black. And just 10 black men have ever gained four-star rank -- five in the Army, four in the Air Force and one in the Navy, according to the Pentagon.

As a result, younger African-American soldiers have few mentors of their own race. And as the overall percentage of blacks in the service falls, particularly in combat careers that lead to top posts, the situation seems unlikely to change.

The U.S. Military Has Plenty of Black Troops, Yet Why Do So Few Serve Among its Upper Ranks?....

NAS MARCHES ON FOX TODAY: Controversial rapper joins protest against on-air racism at 'Faux News.'

Nas will join activists from MoveOn.org and ColorOfChange.org today as they march on Fox News headquarters in Manhattan demanding that the conservative network end what protesters call a "pattern of racist attacks against Black Americans including presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle."

Nas will help deliver a petition bearing 600,000 signatures to the Fox News offices at 2:00 this afternoon.

The groups criticize Fox's overall approach to news but singled out a few specific examples including: a reference to Michelle Obama as "Obama's baby mama," saying that Barack and Michelle's fist pound had been called a "terrorist fist jab," a commentator confusing "Obama" with "Osama" and then joking about assassinating both and Bill O'Reilly using the term "lynch party" while criticizing Michelle Obama for comments she made about being proud of America.

NAS MARCHES ON FOX TODAY....

China to implement “No Africans” policy for Olympics.

ClickAfrique

A Hong Kong based newspaper; the South China Morning Post has reported that the Chinese government has secretly implemented plans to prevent restaurants and bars in Beijing from serving Africans during the Olympics. The newspaper report which has been denied by the Beijing police claimed the carte blanc order was introduced by the Chinese authorities to clamp down on drug dealing in the city which the Chinese claim is controlled by African gangs.

China to implement “No Africans” policy for Olympics....

Commentary: Environmentalists Want You to Save the Planet? They Could Start By Helping You Save Your Green

By: Joseph C. Phillips, BlackAmericaWeb.com

I am a fan of environmentalists and the environmental movement. Those citizens advocating for our environment provide a useful service to the rest of us -- particularly those in government and industry by reminding us of the necessity for prudence when considering the current and future health of our planet.

I am dismayed, however, at the increasing equation of environmental consciousness with moral righteousness and the rampant consumerism that has attached itself to the environmental movement. The resulting mix is an unsavory moral consumerism that stinks to high heaven. Save the planet, save your soul. All it costs you is a few dollars.

That’s the old-time religion for you! And the current problem with living green is the same problem with absolution purchased with gold: The more disposable income you have the more morally superior you can become.

COMMENTARY....

TAVIS SAYS OBAMA SHOULDN'T GET AUTOMATIC PASS: Journalist says both candidates should be held accountable.

There is no such thing in America as race transcendence, and Obama's going to find that out real soon," said talk show host Tavis Smiley in an interview Monday with the Associated Press.

The veteran journalist has been in the eye of an Internet firestorm after making comments about the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee that were perceived as negative.

After criticizing Obama on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show" for choosing not to appear on Smiley's annual State of the Black Union gathering in February, the TV host was put on blast by a large contingent of the African-American community, who questioned his loyalty, motives and ego.

TAVIS SAYS OBAMA SHOULDN'T GET AUTOMATIC PASS....

Iraqi Leadership Expresses Support of Barack Obama’s Goal to Withdraw U.S. Troops by 2010

By: Brian Murphy and Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press

BAGHDAD (AP) Face to face with Iraq's leaders, Barack Obama gained fresh support Monday for the idea of pulling all U.S. combat forces from the war zone by 2010.

The Democratic presidential contender also got a military briefing -- and a helicopter tour -- from the top U.S. commander in the region, Gen. David Petraeus, and also met with a few of the nearly 150,000 U.S. troops now well into the war's sixth year.

Back in the U.S., Republican rival John McCain said he hoped the visit would open Obama's eyes to the danger of withdrawal timetables. Said the Arizona senator, who was meeting with President Bush's father, the former president, in Maine: "When you win wars, troops come home." He said of Obama: "He's been completely wrong on the issue."

In Washington, the White House expressed displeasure with recent public comments by Iraqi leaders on the withdrawal question and suggested they might have the U.S. election on their minds. But the Iraqis stopped short of actual timetables or endorsement of Obama's pledge to withdraw troops within 16 months if he wins the presidency.

As Obama visited Iraq for the first time in more than two years, comments Monday by the government's spokesman roughly mirrored the Illinois senator's withdrawal schedule and offered a glimpse of Iraq's growing confidence as violence drops and Iraqi security forces expand their roles.

"We are hoping that in 2010 that combat troops will withdraw from Iraq," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said after Obama met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki -- who has struggled for days to clarify Iraq's position on a possible timetable for a U.S. troop pullout.

Iraq's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, said after meeting Obama that Iraqi leaders share "a common interest ... to schedule the withdrawal of American troops."

Iraqi Leadership Expresses Support of Barack Obama’s Goal to Withdraw U.S. Troops by 2010....

LAUGH FACTORY WANTS JESSE TO PAY FOR N-WORD: Owner Jamie Masada says he should pay a fine like comics on his stage.

Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada, who has had some experience in dealing with the N-word spewing forth from his stage, says Jesse Jackson should be fined for his recent public use of the racist term.


After the Michael Richards episode two years ago, when the actor repeatedly shouted the N-word at a black patron, Rev. Jackson joined Masada in calling for the term to be banned at the Laugh Factory.

Since the outburst, Masada has fined comics $50 for every time they use the word on stage.

LAUGH FACTORY WANTS JESSE TO PAY FOR N-WORD....

Commentary: Obama’s Presidency Won’t Be the End-All-Be-All for Black America, But It Will Begin the U-Turn

By: Deborah Mathis, BlackAmericaWeb.com

I have been a Barack Obama booster since the day he stepped onto the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Boston four summers ago and turned the crowd in that auditorium into a rapturous horde.

I felt a swell of pride on January 3, 2005 -- Day One of the 109th Congress -- when there were 45 new members between the houses, but all the buzz was about the lanky charmer from Illinois on the Senate side.

Once he told Tim Russert that, yes, he was mulling a run for the U.S. presidency, I wrote as fast and furiously as I could to encourage him: Run; run now.

And throughout the long and difficult primary season, I prayed that he would survive the challenges and win.

But, for all of my faith in Obama’s superior talents and what I believe to be a good heart in concert with a great mind, never once have I believed that he would be the be-all-and-end-all for what ails black America particularly or the larger society in general. He could conceivably be the most important president we’ve ever had. But he is not, and cannot be, the messiah.

COMMENTARY....

Obama Meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai

By: Fisnik Abrashi, Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged steadfast aid to Afghanistan in talks Sunday with its Western-backed leader and vowed to pursue the war on terror "with vigor" if elected, an Afghan official said.

On the second day of an international tour designed to burnish his foreign policy credentials, Illinois Sen. Obama and a pair of colleagues held two hours of talks with President Hamid Karzai at his palace in the capital.

Obama has chided Karzai for not doing more to build confidence in his government, which remains weak after the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.

He made no public comment after the meeting, but said in a written statement that his main purpose was to see U.S troops, thank them for their "extraordinary service" and let them know the United States is proud of them.

Obama said he and his colleagues were talking to military and diplomatic leaders, and Afghanistan's leaders about whether the U.S. has the right strategy and resources to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaida.

"Our message to the Afghan government is this: We want a strong partnership based on 'more for more' -- more resources from the United States and NATO, and more action from the Afghan government to improve the lives of the Afghan people," Obama and Sens. Chuck Hagel, (R-Neb.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said in a joint statement. "We need a sense of urgency and determination.

Obama Meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai....

The Shadow of His Smile, Obama As A Sex Symbol

By JoAnn Wypijewski

In politics as in pop, legions of little girls jumping out of their panties can't be wrong. That's the vital lesson so far of Election '08. I watched a throng of them in November 2006, teenagers in their short skirts and breathlessness, jumping and jittering, hands to cheeks, screaming for Barack Obama. White and black, they crowded to the front of a rally for Jim Webb in the onetime capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. Jim who? One of the white girls awkwardly told me that she didn't really know anything about the beet-faced warrior for the white working class running for the Senate, and she wasn't really there to find out. Obama hadn't come there to say much about the candidate or Virginia or even that year's election, either. He glided across the stage like a crooner, one slender hand gracing the microphone, the other extending long fingers to trace the imagined horizon of his hopes and dreams. He must have talked for thirty minutes. It didn't matter what he said; he smiled a thousand watts, put a little Southern sugar in his voice and mentioned his mama. Webb steamed in the wings as the girls keened, and from somewhere in the crowd grown-ups started calling out, "Obama for President." He wasn't yet a candidate. He was Frank Sinatra, so cool he's hot, a centrifugal force commanding attention so ruthlessly that it appeared effortless, reducing everyone around him to a sidekick, and the girls in the front rows to jelly.

Those girls represented what they always have in America, a cultural longing. By '07 even the boys were Obama Girls, and their parents were borne along on the energy, feeling young and hip and a little damp in the drawers themselves. "America is back!" Obama told crowds he would announce to the world if they elected him. Hillary and the others didn't have a chance. They had welded themselves to prosaic needs and familiar lies. Obama recognized a different need, requiring a different lie, a pretty lie, not just "change" but "change you can believe in." Tell me again. Yes, darling, you really are beautiful... Like someone ground down by years in a bad relationship, America needed a seduction and, then, like the starlet on the crooner's arm, the reflected shine.

The Shadow of His Smile....