Barack Obama may have left Berlin more than a week ago, but the political repercussions of his speech to about 200,000 people there can still be felt. First came John McCain’s controversial Barack-Obama-Is-The-Biggest-Celebrity-In-The-World-But-Is-He-Ready-To Lead? ad. Then the Republican National Committee launched a parody-type campaign spot that mocks, among other things, the Obama supporters in Berlin by comparing their Obamania to the fondness of many Germans for Knight Rider and Baywatch “star” David Hasselhoff during the 1980s. While the RNC ad seemed to gain only little traction in the United States, German media like DER SPIEGEL certainly picked up on it. Despite the depiction of Obama being treated to the political equivalent of the “Love Parade” during his trip there, many Germans who witnessed his speech weren’t exactly starstruck. My friends at the Berlin-based Internet think tank Atlantic-community.org conducted a number of video interviews with rally attendees who generally provided a much more nuanced assessment of the Democratic presidential candidate than most mainstream media reports would suggest:
