Before the US president participates in the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of D-Day in France, he is to visit the US military medical center in Landstuhl and make a detour to Dresden and Buchenwald in eastern Germany. While his attendance in Normandy and his troop visit are all but obligatory for an American president, Obama's side trip to eastern Germany is not.

So why has the US president decided to make room for Dresden and Buchenwald in his itinerary? The visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp has a personal aspect for Obama besides the obvious historical significance it holds. The president's great-uncle, now 84 years old, had participated in the liberation of a sub-camp of Buchenwald by American troops in April 1945. Dresden, with its famous Frauenkirche which was destroyed by allied bombs in World War II and has been restored since, and its Zwinger museum, is laden with historical and cultural importance.

But despite all its historical ramifications, says Daniel Hamilton, Director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University, Obama's visit to eastern Germany is more than just a trip to the past. "He is trying to connect with a part of Germany that most Americans don't know and with the younger generation in Germany."

Hamilton, a former US deputy assistant secretary for European affairs, notes that the mere fact that Obama has travelled to Germany frequently within the past year is not necessarily an indication that Germany plays a more important role for the current US administration. After all, events like the recent NATO summit in Germany and France, were already planned long before Obama became president.

Fall of the Wall

Instead, he points out that the fall of the Berlin Wall was the only non-American historical event Obama included in a list of examples that represented American ideals in his celebrated election night speech in Chicago. "It's a sign of the recognition of the importance of Germany for the United States," says Hamilton. He thinks that, while Obama doesn't possess any deep personal connection with Germany, since his speech in front of tens of thousands in Berlin last year he has developed a good sense of Germany and its international role.

From a German perspective, Obama's frequent trips to the country are a double-edged sword, argues John Hulsman, a foreign policy expert based in Berlin. "For Germany it's both flattering and frustrating that Obama is visiting again. Flattering because it shows that the US administration knows that in order to get Europe on board, the days of just going to London are over, you have to go to Berlin. But it's also frustrating, because the reason Germany is getting that much attention is that nothing is happening."

If Germans could draw up an American president they would draw up Obama, says Hulsman. He favors multilateralism, is pro-European, open for arguments, a good listener and an eloquent speaker. "Germans couldn't wish for a better president, but despite all those good vibrations between the Germans and Obama, he gets nothing done." On his recent European trip to the NATO and G8 summits, Obama pushed all the right buttons, giving good speeches, listening to European concerns and holding lots of hands: "But in the end he went back absolutely empty handed - no stimulus package from Europe, no more troops for Afghanistan."

Hamilton agrees that there are conflicting opinions on stimulating the economy. But he believes the opposing views are understandable, given that the economic crisis is experienced differently on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe the direct fallout of the economic crisis for people is mitigated by a relatively strong social safety net which is missing in the US.

Change of tone

On Afghanistan, says Hamilton, Washington finally came to this conclusion: "The US decided to stop beating the Europeans over the head for their refusal to send more troops to Afghanistan. So, yes, there is an Americanization of that war, and it was European reluctance that pushed the US to a play more unilateral role."

Despite these differences, Hamilton believes that German-American relations have improved tremendously since Obama took office. The new president's change of tone was very important, as were many of his early decisions, such as when he announced on the first day of his presidency to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. And while Germany and other European countries are reluctant to take any Guantanamo inmates, Hamilton emphasizes that both sides share the same goal and are on the right track to eventually solve this difficult issue.

His colleague John Hulsman is not so sure: "Germany still hasn't decided whether it will take any prisoners. France after a long, tedious debate agreed to take a single prisoner. For me that pretty much sums up European-American relations at the moment."

Structural problems

Neither Hamilton nor Hulsman would likely go so far as Noah Barkin, chief correspondent for Reuters news agency in Germany, who wrote in his blog that German-American relations are probably as poor as they have been since Angela Merkel became chancellor in 2005. Hamilton and Hulsman think that, in the end, the quality of transatlantic relations is measured on the basis of whether they can achieve results -- and it is still too early to tell.

But Hulsman is skeptical that that is possible and senses an intrinsic problem between Europe and the US. "The big story at the end of Obama's term could be the difference between rhetoric and reality and the fact that substance trumps style. I think there is a fundamental structural problem in transatlantic relations and it doesn't really matter who is president. And that is far more damning than eight years of George W. Bush."

What Eberhard Sandschneider, research director at the German Council on Foreign Relations, wrote recently about NATO under President Obama applies to the transatlantic relationship in general. "If you want to take part in the decision-making, you have to deliver." The next test looms already on the horizon, says Hamilton: "What's Europe ready to do to stabilize Iraq after the US troops have left?"

Author: Michael Knigge
Editor: Nancy Isenson