Eating with Merkel, meeting with Scholz, arena performance
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Ex-US President Obama warns of dangers to democracy during visit to Berlin
Barack Obama is in Berlin again. The former US President is in the capital for the fifth time. While he spoke to more than 200,000 Berliners for free in 2008, a ticket for the arena performance on Wednesday evening cost a lot of money.
Former US President Barack Obama was greeted with thunderous applause at an event in Berlin and warned against the polarization of society and disinformation. “I think those are some of the biggest threats to democracy,” Obama said. “Some young people think everything they see on Tiktok is true. Whoever thinks that of you, it’s not.”
The 61-year-old spoke on Wednesday evening in the arena at Ostbahnhof with 17,000 seats. Tickets were previously offered for around 61 to 550 euros. The German moderator Klaas Heufer-Umlauf led through the evening. The former President spoke to him about his perspective on current political issues such as climate change and good political leadership. Obama never forgot well-placed punchlines: “Ask my wife Michelle, I’m wrong ten times a day.” Obama has been in Europe for a few days and held a similar appointment in Zurich at the end of last week in front of around 10,000 paying guests.
First Merkel, then Scholz
Obama met with former Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday. Merkel’s office published two photos of the non-public conversation on Wednesday. A report of BZ According to the report, the two politicians, who always emphasized their close bond during their tenure, had dinner in a restaurant in Schöneberg.
On Wednesday afternoon, Obama was the guest of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) for a confidential talk. “Last night I had dinner with an old friend – Angela Merkel. Today I had lunch with the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz,” Obama said on stage that evening. The two come from two different parties, but share the same core values.
A look at the ex-president from 61 euros
According to the organizer, Obama wanted to send a “message of positive and sustainable change” at his event in Berlin on Wednesday evening. The proceeds should not go to Obama himself, but to his foundation, which, among other things, runs inclusion and scholarship programs for minorities, according to the ex-president and his team.
Obama was President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A close and friendly relationship developed with Merkel, as the then Chancellor made clear during Obama’s farewell visit as President in 2016.
Obama in Berlin for the fifth time
It has never been quiet around the ex-president since the end of his term in office. In addition to his own foundation, Obama now has a film production company with his wife Michelle. With this he cooperates with Netflix, among others. Obama also runs a podcast with rock star Bruce Springsteen. In 2020 he published his autobiography “A Promised Land”.
Obama is visiting Berlin for the fifth time. He made his first appearance in the capital in July 2008, when he gave a speech as a presidential candidate in front of more than 200,000 Berliners at the Großer Stern in front of the Victory Column. In 2013 he spoke as President in front of the Brandenburg Gate before returning to Berlin for a farewell visit in 2016. The following year, he returned as ex-president at the Church Congress. He completed his most recent visit in 2019, when he gave a lecture at the European School of Management and Technology.
Obama is accompanied by a large security team made up of the police, SEK and US Secret Service, to which all US Presidents and their partners are entitled until the end of their lives, even after their term of office.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, 03.05.23, 8:30 a.m