Spiegel Online looks at Obama's growing popularity in Germany. While Berlin sees McCain as a "Cold War relic", much of the German policy-making establishment is "projecting its hopes and dreams on Obama". A brief phone call between German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Obama had illuminating consequences:
The few minutes spent on the telephone gave Steinmeier the impression that Obama is prepared to fundamentally reconsider the course of US foreign policy. Steinmeier was impressed, and only a day later he publicly outed himself as the senator's latest fan. "Yes we can," the minister, not known for his emotional outbursts, chanted, evoking Obama's campaign slogan during a speech at Harvard University. Steinmeier used the term to express his desire for a renewal of trans-Atlantic relations.
