Why Won't Obama Attend the Berlin Wall Ceremony?

President Obama has chosen not to attend the celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall. He was invited by Chancellor Merkel, but has declined. Newt Gingrich thinks he's making a terrible mistake:

Some consider President Obama's refusal to attend the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany next week an outrage.

I consider it a tragedy.

To commemorate, after all, is to remember. And Americans need to remember, not just that the Wall fell, but why it fell. We need to remember that the Berlin Wall was the symbol of more than just the Cold War, more than just the division of Europe.

It was the symbol of an evil ideology that denied human dignity, denied truth, and respected only power.

When the Wall fell, truth and human dignity, in a rare moment in the 20th century, triumphed over power. But that victory is not permanent.

Today, in the 21st century, we are faced with new ideologies that challenge human dignity and regard truth as something they decree. At home, a growing culture of radical secularism declares that the nation cannot publicly profess the truths on which it was founded. Abroad, an irreconcilable wing of Islam believes that the lives of the innocent are expendable.

And so we need to remember why the Wall fell. And it is a tragedy that the president will not lead us in remembering.

There's more here.

Wednesday a caller to Rush Limbaugh's show had an interesting theory which is in keeping with the thin-skinned nature of The One. You may remember during the campaign Obama jetted off to Europe to give a speech in Berlin and had asked to give it at the Brandenburg Gate, one of the most historic locations in the city. City officials declined and essentially told him that spot was reserved for people who had actually accomplished something. The caller thinks Obama's refusal to attend the ceremony is a hissy-fit because of his anger toward the Berlin officials.

Makes sense to me.