The White House pool report reveals that only 6,000 will be in attendance for Obama’s Berlin speech today:

The stage for the president’s speech is set up on the East side of the Brandenburg Gate, in the old East Berlin. The sun is pounding down and there are around 6,000 invited guests according to German authorities. There are bleachers set up either side of the square, with a big two storey riser facing the stage which has a row of bullet proof glass and 12 US, German and EU flags and the grand backdrop of the Gate. There is a large standing crowd between the bleachers.

Last time around, when Obama delivered a speech in Berlin in the 2008 presidential campaign, when he was still a senator, 200,000 folks came out to see him.

In 2008 anybody could attend. This year’s speech was for “invited guests only.” Gee, I wonder why?

Obama’s speech was pretty much the same stuff he served up in 2008, except now the only hope the administration has is to parrot the same empty promises and hope that everybody forgets who’s been in charge for the last nearly five years. Chris Matthews however chooses to ignore reality and blame the sun (where was Obama’s umbrella-holding Marine?).

As a result of a crippled TOTUS and the tightly controlled atmosphere, the scene was much different compared to 2008:

By the end of 2016 this is going to be the “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane” of administrations.

Update: I should have made a disclaimer when I said the speech was “invitation only.” That is to say the White House claims it was invitation only, but I find it hard to believe they’d willingly leave so much space empty.

RT @NCNAACP There is a change coming! pic.twitter.com/QOR1AOhZm3

— NAACP (@NAACP) June 17, 2013

Ted Kennedy's grave at Arlington. pic.twitter.com/LQwTXGVVry

— luis martinez (@LMartinezABC) June 16, 2013

Last night I ran across this recent tweet by Robert Reich (arrowed above next to President Obama), the diminutive former labor secretary under Bill Clinton literally and current wacky liberal economist. It sums up the left’s view of government while serving as the definition of delusional:

Where has our national goverment gone? We've split it up and given it to the states. http://t.co/8ooS2f01I9

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) June 8, 2013

Because you can’t hear “Obama administration” without thinking “returning control to the states.”

These are the people who have managed to pass themselves off as “intelligent” in some circles (and by “some circles” I mean roundtable discussions at Columbia University and/or Chris Matthews’ cocktail parties).

Where has the Federal government gone? Nowhere:

If only more power had been returned to the states. That how it’s supposed to be:

The Tenth Amendment states the Constitution’s principle of federalism by providing that powers not granted to the federal government by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States or the people.

Reich is one seriously funny guy. I don’t think he’s quite as funny as Krugman but he’s getting there.

Here’s the video. Considering what’s on his shirt, I like to consider the circling shark as metaphor for the IRS: