Will Obama have a formal speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin?

Some News about this topic: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,564849,00.html

Unfortunally in German. Here a short description:
The german cancelor Angela Merkel is not very happy about Obamas plan to hold a speech in front of the Brandenburger Gate.

how close does he have to be to be considered "in front" of the Brandenburger Gate? he could be 50 yards away with it in the background.

Good question. Let's remember the speech from JKF in 1963. If you look at the TV-pictures you can see the gate behind him in the szenery. I think we can take this idea, that when it's possible to see the gate right behind him, than this question should be settled as "yes".

Some news about this topic, even in english this time :D

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,564805,00.html

I think several people see this as a ego-centric media stunt...

http://www.slublog.com/archives/2008/07/obama_he_loves.html

I hate to nitpick, but I'm not comfortable with the phrase "...get a chance to..." here. German authorities might very well give Obama the chance to deliver his speech at that location by not denying him a permit. So even if he decided to deliver it elsewhere, he still had the chance or opportunity to deliver it there.

Hi,

The market question as well as the background has been edited to make the question clearer, and settlement easier.

Regards,

Ryan
Hubdub Category Editor

Thank you for this hind and let me say, I can go with you ;)

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,565870,00.html

It looks like Obama change his plans and want to speech in airport Tempelhof. But until now there is no decicion made.

promotional gimmicks ...JFKs strategy was good ..but will lady luck smile twice??lets wait n watch

According to the "Berliner Zeitung" he will have his speech at the "Siegessäule" which is some 2 km away from the Brandengurg Gate(http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2008/0718/seite1/0072/index.html). However the boulevard towards the Gate is absolutely straight and would therefore actually permit to shoot him (well, not literally) with the Gate as background. So back to Dieseldog's question (No. 2 above), I would consider this to be a "no" (if it's going to happen like this), because that's really not AT the Brandenburg Gate. What do you think?

I agree with horatiomonty, Siegessäule is not "at" the Brandenburg Gate.

@ horatiomonty -- I, too, have seen the "initial spotting reports" ... but as to your good question about clarification... Super Users and Admins worked with this question as soon as it came out to try to make it unambiguous.

Two "key words" added to this question are, "Will Obama have a formal speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin?"

The first was a realization that, speech or not, no doubt Barack Obama will walk through the Gate -- and like most politicians before him, he will "have something to say" while he does that. The keyword "formal speech" takes care of that.

The other keyword is one you mentioned, "at"... which means "at" the Brandenburg Gate.

Right now, the early reports are that Obama will speak at the Great Star (Grosser Stern), where seven streets intersect. It lies in the middle of the big park in the center of Berlin, the Tiergarten. The Victory Column (Siegessaeule) is there and Sen. Obama will reportedly speak directly in front of it.

That would not be at the Brandenburg Gate. Hope that helps!

Yeah, thanks, I think that makes it all very clear now.
btw, here in Germany news accumulate that confirm the "Siegessäule" as venue for the speech.

Thank for solving this question. I'm anxoius for what Obama has to say in Germany :>