US presidential candidate Barack Obama tried played down the massively hyped expectations for his speech in Berlin on Thursday, saying was not trying to make a historic address like JFK and Ronald Reagan.
"They were presidents, I am a citizen," he told reporters travelling with him. "There is no doubt that part of what I want to communicate on both sides of the Atlantic is the enormous potential of us restoring a sense of coming together."
omoting the event. Obama today, a blond man in his twenties wearing glasses said in German before hurrying on his way toward the Alexanderplatz train station.

BERLIN (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as climate and energy issues at Germany's chancellery Thursday, part of a tour aimed at lifting the first-term senator's international standing.
Their meeting featured "very open" and wide-ranging talks, Merkel spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said in a statement issued after the hourlong session. Obama and Merkel also stressed the "great significance of close and friendly German-American relations," he said.
eployed during Obama's visit, which lasts through Friday morning.

By Caren Bohan and Noah Barkin BERLIN (Reuters) - US presidential candidate Barack Obama is expected to call on Europe to do more in hotspots like

BERLIN - Last night New York-based photodiva Scout Tufankjian and I went to the Eastern Comfort boat, which has a weekly English language party. Down in that part of Berlin, the wall still stands. It's colored with beautiful graffiti on each side.
One of my colleagues did the research and informs me the image depicts Soviet Union dictator Leonid Brezhnev and East Germany dictator Erich Honecker.
tical rival.

AP BERLIN -- US Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama kicked off the European leg of his overseas trip in Berlin Thursday, meeting with German

By Jeff Zeleny BERLIN – Senator Barack Obama arrived in Germany on Thursday amid high anticipation for an evening speech he is poised to deliver here at

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes the US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. AFP
BERLIN // US presidential hopeful Barack Obama arrived in Berlin to kick-start his European tour, saying he wanted to signal a fresh start in transatlantic ties from the city where the Cold War was won.
oring a sense of coming together, he told reporters on the plane before landing in the German capital.

By Noah Barkin and Caren Bohan BERLIN (Reuters) - US Democratic presidential candidateBarack Obama, on a foreign tour he hopes will boost hiselection

BERLIN (AFP) - US presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Thursday kicked off a European tour in Berlin, saying he aimed to give a fresh start to transatlantic ties, from the city where the Cold War was won.
Obama, who arrived from Israel, met first with German Chancellor Angela Merkel while a crowd of supporters cheered and snapped pictures outside.
t that part of what I want to communicate on both sides of the Atlantic is the enormous potential of us restoring a sense of coming together," he told reporters travelling with him.

So the madness is underway. Superstar, Kennedy or Messiah, call him what you will (and he has been called all those things by a reverential press here), Obama has touched down in Berlin.
Messiah meets Merkel: Barack Obama with the German Chancellor
day that he "feeds off the energy of the crowd, a bit like Bono".

AP BERLIN: Berlin police say that they are investigating a suspicious package found at the hotel where US presidential candidate Barack Obama is staying.

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama is heading to Berlin to begin the European leg of his international tour ahead of November's US presidential poll.