Below is Barack Obama in Tiergarten, Berlin, in front of a crowd of 200,000, during his Middle Eastern/European tour. The tour was aimed at boosting his foreign policy credentials in the US, where he faces stiff competition on that particular front from the veteren McCain. Confronted by the press regarding Obama’s triumph in Europe, McCain replied, wryly, that he is keen on visiting Europe - not as a candidate, but as president-elect.

Obama’s rhetoric skills at their best here, performing an amazing speech [kudos to his speech-writers]. I find it hard for Obama to actually live up to the huge expectations he created, if elected in the fall. But I say that his performance in office is only half as impressive [in both rhetoric and general policy lines, and substance] as what we’ve seen so far, he would be on a course to changing US image abroad, and possibly even of restoring soft power to the declining hegemon. Can you say Kennedy?