More than 100,000 expected for Obama speech in Berlin
 "More than 100,000 people are expected to attend a speech by Barack Obama in Berlin today as he starts the European leg of his foreign tour," the Guardian writes Thursday.
Up to 1,000,000 are predicted by some accounts -- though Obama tried to tamp down expectations on his campaign flight in.
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Thursday kicked off a European tour in Berlin, saying he aimed to give a fresh start to transatlantic ties, from the city where the Cold War was won and playing down expectations his visit could compare with that of President John F. Kennedy or President Ronald Reagan.
Obama, who arrived from Israel, met first with German Chancellor Angela Merkel while a crowd of supporters cheered and snapped pictures outside.
"There is no doubt that part of what I want to communicate on both sides of the Atlantic is the enormous potential of us restoring a sense of coming together," he told reporters traveling with him.
Obama sought to tamp down expectations he would reach the rhetorical heights of late president John F. Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" vow to the then-divided city in 1963, or former Republican president Ronald Reagan resonant call in 1987 to "Tear down this wall".
"They were presidents, I am a citizen," he said.
A column of black BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars ferried the candidate to a private meeting with Merkel that lasted about an hour. Overhead, a police helicopter kept watch. Some 700 police have been deployed during the visit, which lasts through Friday morning.
Inside the chancellery, Obama and Merkel shook hands and exchanged small talk before going into her office. They did not make a statement after their meeting.
On Wednesday, Merkel told reporters that she planned to talk about climate change and global free trade with Obama and made clear that Germany will stand by its refusal to send combat troops to southern Afghanistan.
Obama's motorcade drew cheers from knots of people along his route from the government building to his hotel. As he got out of his car, one man yelled out in English, "Yes we can!" - the senator's campaign refrain.
On his flight into Germany, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) tried to tamp down expectations. But TIME posted a broadly laudatory article of the Democratic candidate, which received banner treatment on the Huffington Post.
TIME plays up JFK comparison
"Walking around Berlin recently, the American visitor could be forgiven for thinking Germany was the 51st state in the Union - and that it would vote heavily for Senator Barack Obama on November 4," TIME's Stephanie Kirchner wrote. "Joggers in local parks proudly sport Obama T-shirts; the trendy expat hangout White Trash Fast Food was turned into an Obama campaign center for a day; and a city magazine has published instruction on how to craft little American flags to wave in welcoming the junior senator from Illinois, who visits on Thursday."
"The city has been buzzing with anticipation over Obama's visit, and his reported request to use the Brandenburg Gate as the backdrop for his only public address in Europe sparked a local media frenzy," Kirchner adds. "Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted with "bewilderment" to the senator's request to speak at this historically charged location, and appeared concerned that approving the request would be interpreted as taking sides in the U.S. presidential race. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, for his part, welcomed the suggestion that Obama speak at a venue rendered iconic by John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, saying it was 'a vital expression of German-American friendship.'"
Obama's agreed to stage the speech instead in front of a victory monument.
"The media can barely contain its excitement," TIME adds. "'Germany meets the Superstar' read the front page of the weekly Der Spiegel in reference to a popular TV show, while the tabloid Bild called Obama 'Berlin's New Kennedy!' and gushed: 'It's like 1963,' describing the presidential candidate as 'just as young, sexy and charismatic' as John F. Kennedy. And that's before he's even set foot here."
Obama tries to lower expectations
Wrote CBS News (excerpts):
"Let's tamp down expectations here," Obama told reporters when asked how he prepares to speak to what some reports predict could be a crowd of a million people. "I doubt we are going to have a million screaming Germans," Obama predicted, however.
On the flight to Berlin, Obama chatted with the traveling press, asking them how they are enduring the rigorous schedule.
"I'm doing ok," Obama said of himself adding that he hasn't been getting much sleep. Despite a little chit chat, the conversation quickly turned to questions about the speech, and after a little hesitation, he gave a few nebulous details.
For one, Obama said the speech will not be a "wonkish policy speech" but it's not exactly a campaign stump either. "The people in the crowd aren't voters, so in that sense it's not designed to get them to the polls," he explained.
Will portions be in German? "Probably not," Obama said, "My German is not real good."
When asked if he looked to the Kennedy or Reagan speeches in Berlin for guidance, Obama replied, "They were presidents and I am a citizen."
With AP and AFP wire reports.
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