After much anticipation, Barack Obama's Berlin speech is upon us. Adoring Germans are expected to turn up by the thousands, tens of thousands, or perhaps billions to see their new favorite American politician. Obama had originally considered giving the speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate, but after critics contended the site was inappropriate for someone who hasn't even won the election yet, Obama decided to deliver the same exact speech in front of a different, less presumptuous symbolic landmark … the Victory Column. Though the theme of the address is European-American relations, the precise details are unknown. Will he say something in German, like JFK? Will he tell Mr. Gorbachev to tear down this wall, like Ronald Reagan? We'll live-blog the event and let you know.

1:09 p.m.: The crowds look pretty huge and enthusiastic despite this not being a David Hasselhoff concert.
1:10 p.m.: They've begun alternating "O-ba-ma" and "Yes we can!" chants as they await his arrival. Now they've seemingly given up. Unusually disorganized for Germans.
1:21 p.m.: Obama emerges, he's greeted with uproarious cheers.
1:22 p.m.: The crowd starts the Obama chant again. Obama says thank you literally twelve times.

As demonstrated by his visit to the Western Wall this morning, Barack Obama isn't taking the Jewish vote for granted. Nor should he: Though polls show he's getting nearly twice the support of John McCain among American Jewish voters, his support still trails that of recent Democratic presidential candidates. Jewish concerns run the gamut from his positions on Iran to his association with Reverend Wright to his Muslim-y name and background. With his trip to Israel fresh in everyone's minds, the debate has reemerged over how good Obama will be for Israel and, consequently, how attractive he will be to the American Jews who hold that country as a priority.

Somehow still awake after six days of nonstop meetings, interviews, and an exhausting charm offensive, Barack Obama made an early-morning stop at Jerusalem’s Western Wall today, one of the most holy places in Judaism. Obama was filmed at the Wall wearing a yarmulke and praying with a rabbi, so you know there are more than a few people today scratching their heads and saying, “Wait, wait — Obama is Jewish? I thought he was a Muslim.” It’s all very confusing, we know. Although it was five in the morning, the scene wasn’t completely tranquil. There were a surprising number of people at the wall, including, the Times writes, “a lone man standing about 10 yards away yell[ing] over and over, ‘Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale!’” Before leaving, Obama placed a note in a crack of the Wall according to custom. Luckily, our Daily Intel Jerusalem correspondent — part of our vast global network of journalists — has gotten his hands on the note. Herewith, at the risk of provoking God’s everlasting indignation, is what Obama wrote:

As Barack Obama makes his way from the Middle East to Europe this week, both campaigns are still buzzing about the boost he got in Iraq, where prime minister Nouri al-Maliki endorsed withdrawing American troops from that country by the end of 2010. So far, the national media has focused on Maliki’s comments mainly by asking what impact they will have on the U.S. presidential race. Well, as one Republican strategist told The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder, “We’re fucked.” So here’s a more interesting political question: What is Maliki really doing? The prime minister of Iraq didn’t have to take sides in the American presidential campaign, after all.

There's probably nobody looking forward to the weekend more than John McCain right now. As Barack Obama continues to charm the globe and world events seem to involuntarily coalesce around his platform, McCain is struggling to even get noticed (not for lack of trying). Though the mood of the campaign could easily flip tomorrow, the current rough patch is feeding doubts about McCain's strategy — and his chances in November.

McCain's new strategist, Steve Schmidt, is kind of an asshole, The Wall Street Journal tells us this morning, although they don't exactly use those words. The New Jersey native, who worked on Bush's campaign and Schwartznegger's (and who is responsible for yesterday's angry-funny "Media Hearts Obama" video) is a "sharp-tongued" "military-like" figure who was promoted to strategist after McCain's disastrous June 3 speech, which was widely mocked and which Schmidt said made him "apoplectic" about the incompetence of the campaign.

Apparently he often feels that way! The Journal story contains many colorful anecdotes about the man McCain affectionately calls "Sgt. Schmidt," some of which would make even Machiavelli cringe. For instance:

• Anger, Schmidt says, "focuses people's attention when other means have been exhausted."

• "Our goal is perfection," he told McCain staffers recently. "We will never achieve it."

• "Two colleagues say that when Mr. Schmidt gets really angry, his nose bleeds, though Mr. Schmidt denies it."

Someone at the McCain campaign edited together this video from TV clips thinking that, all together, it would be rock-solid proof of the media's forbidden Obama lust. But, really, it's just hilarious. Chris Matthews's "I got a thrill up my leg" line is in there, as well as footage of NBC's Lee Cowan being wowed by Obama's Philadelphia speech and a bunch of reporters clamoring like ninnies for the Democratic candidate's attention. Damning! Not really. The point the McCain campaign is trying to make is rather undercut, since (a) as Jeff Bercovici at Portfolio points out, the videographer also makes liberal usage of footage of conservative talking heads Tucker Carlson, Joe Scarborough, and Lou Dobbs talking about how enamored the media is, even though, DUH, they are the media and, clearly, they are not enamored and (b) reporters always clamor like ninnies, as that is their nature. Oh, and (c) Ed Rendell is a jerk, and everyone knows that.

We couldn't help but dig this small detail from Mike Allan's Political Playbook today on Politico:

With Senator Obama still in Iraq, his staff and press could be seen smoking flavored tobacco in hookahs in their Amman hotel bar, well past midnight local time.

Ahem, they call them nargilas in Jordan, thanks. Why Fox News isn't running pictures of this illicit, blatantly Middle Eastern activity, we'll never know. But if somebody finds a shot of Reggie Love (or Andrea Mitchell!) passing the hose to David Axelrod (who, let's hope, will be twirling his mustache), send it to us. That's going to be gold by the time October rolls around.

Obama Lands in Jordan [Politico]

Who do you think you are, John McCain, leaking to Robert Novak that you will reveal your vice-president this week? You have everyone searching for clues (in a stop in McCain-loving swing-state New Hampshire today and at a meeting tomorrow in Louisiana with Bobby Jindal) and momentarily distracting from our vigilant real-time monitoring of Barack Obama's every movement on his world-charm offensive. A clever move to be sure, McCain, but will you really pick your running mate this week or are you just trying to fulfill your own selfish need for media attention?

So, the McCain campaign has been going around stomping their feet and being hysterical all day about how the Times REJECTED the Republican candidate's op-ed about the war in Iraq even though they printed OBAMA'S and it's because they are LIBERALS and therefore totally BIASED. Meanwhile, in an e-mail picked up by Politico, op-ed editor David Shipley tried to explain gently to a McCain aide that actually, it's just that dude's op-ed wasn't really very good. "It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece," wrote Shipley. Rub it in, why don't you!