Claus Christian Malzahn, Spiegel Online’s Berlin bureau chief, has an interesting article today on the reaction of Germans to Barack Obama (“Germany’s Miracle Man“).  He notes that Germans were highly critical of Ronald Reagan, and even more critical of George W. Bush, but are now enamored (to say the least) with Barack Obama:

When [Reagan] stood in front of the Berlin Wall in the summer of 1987 and proclaimed, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” most Germans, myself included, thought of him as one hell of a crazy cowboy. . . .

[T]he German public disliked George W. Bush like they disliked no other post-war American president that had come before him. Every second German considered Bush to be more evil than Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . . .

Today, we believe in Obama. We don’t actually know what that means yet. . . .

After all, Germans have believed a very great number of things in their history. They have believed in colonies in Africa and in the German Kaiser.  . . . Not too long afterwards, they believed that Jews should be placed in ghettos and concentration camps . . . Then they believed in the autobahn and that the Third Reich would ultimately be victorious. A few years later, they believed in the deutsche mark. . . . They believed that the Berlin Wall would be there for ever and ever and that their pensions would be safe for just as long. . . .

According to Malzan, Germans now believe that “Obama is the panacea that can possibly heal the entire world” and “have gone totally crazy” for him, even though they “do not actually know much about Obama’s political beliefs.” He concludes that the new trans-Atlantic honeymoon might be over very soon if Obama actually begins to push an American agenda (such as seeking more German help in Afghanistan), but he believes that a broader agenda may in fact be necessary, since a “charismatic leader has to offer more — something that he really stands for, and he has to know how to push his agenda.”

So even though Obama just returned the bust of Winston Churchill to England, after it had been on loan to Bush, the next time he comes to Germany he may in fact have to bring a “blood, sweat and tears” speech with him. People will listen to him, though they may not like what they hear.

What a tragedy to waste charisma on a mere apology tour, when there are important issues at stake. But the charisma may depend on avoiding the latter and giving your audience what it wants to hear, lest you be considered a cowboy.