Merkel warns Obama not to use landmark for 'electioneering'German Chancellor Angela Merkel slammed a request by Barack Obama to give a speech this month before the Brandenburg Gate as "inappropriate", her deputy spokesman said Wednesday.
The conservative leader said that while she would be pleased to meet the US Democratic presidential hopeful, it would be wrong for him to hold a "campaign rally" at the historic symbol of German unity.
"It is unusual to do electioneering abroad," spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters.
"It is unusual to hold election rallies abroad. No German candidate for high office would even think of using the National Mall (in Washington) or Red Square in Moscow for a rally because it would not be seen as appropriate."
Authorities in the capital have confirmed that Obama plans to visit Berlin on July 24 and is interested in speaking at the foot of the Brandenburg Gate.
The left-leaning government of the city-state, which has the sole right to approve such a request, has not yet made a formal decision but Mayor Klaus Wowereit gave his backing Tuesday.
Steg said Merkel had "limited understanding" for such a request and found the Obama team's initiative "a bit odd". But he said it was up to candidates such as Obama to decide what was "in good taste".
The gate, built in the late 18th century under Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm II as a symbol of peace, became the country's most prominent symbol of German unification in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall the year before.
In an unusual move, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier sharply contradicted Merkel's views at a regular government press conference, saying they could be interpreted in the United States as an affront to Obama.
Foreign ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner said Steinmeier, a Social Democrat, was eager to meet Obama after speaking with him on the phone in April.
Republican presidential contender John McCain should also be welcome to speak at the Brandenburg Gate if he chose to, he added.
"The foreign minister does not find it odd," he said, adding that an Obama speech at or near the site would be "an expression of the vital German-American friendship" just days after Washington opened a new embassy next to the gate.
Ploetner rejected media reports that German diplomats in the United States had actively courted Obama to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.
But he said that German envoys had talked with his campaign about possible sites in Berlin he could visit such as the former Cold War border crossing at Checkpoint Charlie or the Holocaust Memorial.
German officials have noted in recent days that only elected foreign leaders have been invited to hold speeches at the gate and not political candidates.
These include the famous address at the landmark in 1987 by then US president Ronald Reagan, who called out to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, "Tear down this wall!"
Obama's staff said Saturday that he would visit France, Germany, Israel, Jordan and Britain to discuss "common challenges" with countries "critical to American national security". But it did not provide details of his programme.
Despite the flap over his visit, the Illinois senator, who is vying to become the first African-American US president, is wildly popular in Germany.
A survey released this month showed that 72 percent of Germans back Obama to become the next US leader, against just 11 percent for his presumed Republican opponent John McCain.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080709141314.t3ju24gp&show_article=1If DoubleJ was here, I'm sure he would be saying "Heil Obama."
Remember that SNL sketch years back where George Foreman went back in time to 1930s, beat up Hitler, and became the Fuhrer?
