Day 4 in Berlin!

At 8:30 the RIAS fellows began the day with a breakfast meeting at the hotel with Mr. Thomas Habicht. He's a Senior Political Editor with the "Runfunk Berlin Brandenburg" or RBB. He's a radio journalist for the station and has traveled extensively abroad with Hillary Clinton in her run for the American Presidency.

Mr. Habicht first discussed 3 reasons why the Germans are so interested in the U.S Presidential Election. Here's why according to him: It's the first time there's an African American candidate (Illinois Senator Barack Obama,) and a female Vice Presidential Candidate in Sarah Palin. Habicht called them "two political rockstars." The second reason why he said is that the system of American Primaries is a "sharp contrast" in comparison to their political system. Basically, it's completely different to Germany's Parliament.

And the final reason why Germans are so interested in the American Presidential Election is because "it's an illusion." Many Germans; according to Thomas Habicht believe President George W. Bush is the "source of all evils in International affairs." Being that I've never really traveled abroad I didn't realize this was the feeling in foreign countries.

I understand there are a lot of people back home who are unhappy with the President, but I didn't know there was a similar feeling in Germany. According to a survey here in Germany, 70% of people living here support Barack Obama for President. Funny though, because Germans love George H.W. Bush. He opened the American Embassy here.

I also found it interesting and learned a lot more about the crisis in German/American relations because the previous Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said "no" to the war in Iraq. I also learned that one should never "dis" JFK or the Kennedy family. Here, he's basically considered a Saint. There's even a Kennedy Museum at the site of the Brandenburg Gate. This is also where JFK said in his famous speech in the 1960's "Ich Ben Ein Berliner!" Translation: I'm a Berliner!

Chancellor Angela Merkel has always been friendly with the Democrats. She is the first female Chancellor and the first East Berliner in that position. According to Habicht she can speak Russian with Putin, and English with President Bush.

We also learned the communists in East Germany and East Berlin are still strong today. The unemployment rate is lower in East Berlin; which was also the capital of the GDR or East Germany. Both sides we're told were not psychologically prepared for Unification in 1990.

I didn't realize that the first President Bush was one of the only Presidents to support German unification.

We covered a whole variety of issues with Thomas who I found to be extremely intelligent and quite interesting. I didn't realize there are 82 million people living throughout Germany. I also didn't realize the city of Berlin is more than 60 billion Euros in Debt. You couldn't tell driving or walking around here. The city is young and vibrant and there is so much construction taking place (well, maybe I see now.)

After the end of this session (and the questions and answers of course) I had the opportunity to do an "on camera interview" with Mr. Habicht in the court yard of the hotel lobby.

I asked him more about the American Presidential Elections and the growing interest in the candidates throughout Germany. People here associate Arizona Senator John McCain with President Bush and they don't see much opportunity for change with him.

After, the RIAS Berlin Kommission hired a freelance television crew for three of us "T.V. Journalists." We were lucky enough to have Photographer Mr. Norbert Dunkel and his Assistant Ms. Donna with us for the majority of the afternoon.

Our first stop was to Pariser Platz, the site of the Brandenburg Gate, the Kennedy Museum, the U.S. Embassy and so much more. I had the opportunity to interview about five or six Germans; all different ages, background and gender about their interest in America's run for the presidency. It was interesting because all but two said they supported Sen. Barack Obama. He represents change, is a cross between JFK and Martin Luther King and is seen as the right man to strengthen ties even more between the U.S. and Germany.

We then did stand-ups in front of the Brandenburg gate and moved on to other historical locations in the city including the Bundestag, the Chancellory, the train station and we even found a nice plot of land with a whole stretch of the Berlin Wall.