Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama has sought to bury the differences between the United States and "Old Europe" with a rousing speech at the base of the Berlin's Victory Column before an estimated 200,000 people.

Whether or not the speech was made with one eye on the electorate at home seemed irrelevant as the junior Senator from Illinois charmed the massive crowd and sought their co-operation in ending conflict in trouble spots throughout the world.

With soaring rhetoric reminiscent of another U.S. President's famous speech in Berlin, Obama did not disappoint his many German fans.

"People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment, this is our time," he said.[source] 

An extraordinary development in the increasingly heated U.S. presidential election came this week as news stations broadcast the tape of Rev. Jesse Jackson threatening to emasculate Democratic presumptive nominee Barack Obama for "talking down to the black man."

Jackson, whose son Jesse Jackson jnr is part of the Obama campaign team, apologised profusely when it became apparent that his ribald comments had been recorded in what the Rev. Jackson thought was a private conversation prior to an interview on Fox News.