"Ich bin ein Obama-Wahnsinniger"

From the International Herald Tribune:

Barack Obama's popularity extends far beyond Iowa and into the heart of Central Europe. Germany has swiftly developed a serious case of Obama-mania.

Obama's high standing goes beyond his opposition to the Iraq War, which has always been unpopular here. The sudden crush is intimately bound up with the near constant comparisons here between the young senator from Illinois and President John F. Kennedy - still admired in Germany and particularly in Berlin - which have stuck fast as his identity in the German press.

The Berliner Morgenpost over the weekend ran with the headline, "The New Kennedy." The tabloid Bild went with, "This Black American Has Become the New Kennedy!"

An editorial in the Frankfurter Rundschau went one historic president better with a headline that read simply: "Lincoln, Kennedy, Obama," adding that "hope and optimism" are "the source of the nation's strength."

Obama's newfound popularity among Germans underscores not only the breadth of his appeal but also the opportunity he might have as president - though he is still far from the White House, much less his party's nomination - to mend fences abroad as well as at home.

"There are similarities between JFK's time and today," said Karsten Rossow, 49, of Berlin, who was visiting the small Kennedy Museum by the Brandenburg Gate on a dark, snowy afternoon Sunday with his wife. "People are ready for the politics of change."

Will "the Black Kennedy" go over there, and declare, "Ich bin ein Deutchlander"?

Hat tip: This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here (also, check out his link to a European who thinks Europeans should be allowed to vote in U.S. presidential elections....kind of like Vicente Fox dictating to us on illegal immigration).

Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton stand for the National Anthem during the 30th annual Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa, September 16, 2007.
REUTERS/Joshua Lott