Ambassador Murphy Op-ed on U.S.-German relations (12/28/2010)

Der Tagesspiegel 12/28/2010

Equal Partners

2010 was a momentous year: for President Obama and the American people, for the tremendously important German-American partnership, and for me, personally. 

President Obama's legislative record during his first two years in office is without parallel in recent American history: the Recovery Act provided the stimulus to help put America and the world economy on track for recovery; health care reform gave to Americans what Bismarck did for Germans in 1883; and reintroducing rational government regulation of financial markets and institutions will prevent similar financial crises from recurring.

Even after the November elections, President Obama proved his ability to build bipartisan consensus: the tax reform package will provide the extra push needed to create jobs, and will provide essential continued benefits to the millions of Americans who are still looking for work; and ending discrimination against gays and lesbians serving in the military was a civil rights victory for all Americans. 

Obtaining ratification of the New Start treaty is a milestone: it creates the foundation upon which the U.S. and NATO partners can build a true security partnership with Russia, which is essential for advancing a broad range of shared American and German international security goals, including Iran sanctions, missile defense, counter-terrorism, and ensuring stability and security in Afghanistan.  The passage of the New Start treaty showed the President's leadership: this was not a sure thing, and would have been a devastating defeat.  The President knew that this was a cornerstone for his foreign policy, made the call to move forward despite the political risks, and enlisted help from all quarters to create a bi-partisan consensus.  If politics is the art of forging what is desirable from what is possible, President Obama has shown without a doubt in the first two years of his presidency that a) his values are in the right place and b) he is a master tactician and "realpolitiker." 

The German-American relationship has never been more vital, or more needed.  I say this often, but repetition does not weaken the essential truth: our partnership has grown over the past seventy years from adversaries, to occupiers, to rebuilders, to a true partnership "auf Augenhöhe."  This was made possible because of the hard work of several generations of Germans and Americans: students, artists, academics, diplomats, businesspeople and government leaders.  It was also made possible because of our shared basic values and principles: while we do not always agree on the means to achieving an end, we very rarely disagree about which goals we want to achieve, or the fact that we need to work together to achieve them.  We have also learned from each other over the years: at times when my government has made decisions that some Germans didn’t agree with, those who marched in the streets or delivered demarches were also friends of America.

Both for me personally and for the U.S. Mission to Germany, this has been one of the most exciting and challenging years in the recent past.  On behalf of both my colleagues and my family, I would like to thank our many partners and friends for a very productive and successful year.  For the many things we accomplished together, let us share the credit.  For everything else, I am happy to accept responsibility, and look forward to an exciting and fruitful 2011. 

In this spirit we wish all of you a happy new year.

Philip D. Murphy
The author is U.S. Ambassador to Berlin.