I wish he'd been there, too. But I'm not going to let American partisan politics spoil what is an incredibly significant event for me and my family - my husband is a German citizen; both my degrees are in German, and eight years of teaching German and German culture are in my professional background.
This event was for the Germans, not US politics. I'm sad that Barack Obama wasn't there, but sadder still that his absence seems to be generating more discussion of that than of the significance of the actual event.
Interesting piece in the New Yorker on this www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2009/11/16/091116taco_talk_packer . My husband was living in Berlin at the time. It's a decidedly different POV, though no less relieved and surprised.
Comments
This event was for the Germans, not US politics. I'm sad that Barack Obama wasn't there, but sadder still that his absence seems to be generating more discussion of that than of the significance of the actual event.