German papers lay into Obama over US spying claims

[Cincinnatus]

Remember when Europeans, especially the Germans, were all gaga over The One? Times have changed.

Because I used to love her, but it's all over now (Yeah, "her" seems appropriate).

German papers are increasingly turning their fire on US President Barack Obama over claims that the National Security Agency has monitored Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone.

"Obama's aura is gone," reads the headline of a front-page commentary in the daily Die Welt.

Obama "did everything to present America's good side to the world" but "hardly any of that remains", the paper's Jacques Schuster argues. "The damage caused by his secret services is great. It must be repaired," he warns.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung takes a similar line. "Does Obama not realise how much trust he has lost in this country?" a front-page commentary by Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger asks.

"There is no other way to put it, US President Barack Obama looks like a hypocrite in the political landscape," Markus Decker says in the Berliner Zeitung.

"When he took office, he promised more peace and more freedom, but the secret services under his authority have nipped this freedom in the bud," he suggests.

"Fuss"
 
These comments were published before the Bild daily alleged that Mr Obama had known about the operation against Mrs Merkel for the last three years.

"Obama wanted to know everything about Merkel," Bild's online headline reads. The US president's reported denial that he had not been aware of the spying "is at best a diplomatic white lie", the paper says.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung believes that, if the Bild report is confirmed, "Obama would come under political pressure not just in foreign relations but also at home".

However, Harald Martenstein in Der Tagesspiegel says he does not know "what all the fuss is about". "Of course even friendly countries spy on each other," the columnist says.

"We Germans simply have to protect ourselves better. We have been naive and careless and should, if anything, be annoyed with ourselves," he concludes.

You would think the Germans would have been a little bit brighter about Obama in the past, but they were more like some teenage girl in love who refuses to see any fault in the object of her affections.

I coulda told them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24693014

[mountaineer]

The Germans finally see Obama for what he is. Better late than never, I suppose.

[musiclady]

You would think the Germans would have been a little bit brighter about Obama in the past, but they were more like some teenage girl in love who refuses to see any fault in the object of her affections.


There's still a lot of that going on in America.

Good for the Germans for finally waking up.

Maybe some of our lesser minds/souls will catch up here.

[truth_seeker]

The Germans finally see Obama for what he is. Better late than never, I suppose.

Germans are much brighter than todays' Americans.

They balance their budgets, seem to have less muslim terrorism than the US, get somebody else to pay for their defense, etc.

[Oceander]

Germans are much brighter than todays' Americans.

They balance their budgets, seem to have less muslim terrorism than the US, get somebody else to pay for their defense, etc.

Yes they are.  They also had the good sense to not elect someone like Obama - twice.