How will Obama's Berlin speech compare? I Video: JFK's speech I Video: Reagan's speech

Barack Obama arrived in Berlin today hoping to seize the initiative in the US presidential race with a pivotal speech on America's relationship with Europe.

The Democratic nominee was taken from the city's Tegel Airport in a motorcade this morning to an hour-long meeting with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor. Mrs Merkel’s spokesman said the two had held “very open” and wide-ranging talks.

Later today he will make an open-air speech hoping to emulate the impact John F. Kennedy’s celebrated “Ich bin ein Berliner” address in 1963, which helped secure his position as an international statesman.

Twenty four years later, Ronald Reagan stood before the Brandenburg Gate, by the Berlin Wall, and demanded that Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union leader, “tear down this wall”.

Mr Obama will stand a mile away from the Brandenburg Gate, having been prevented from delivering his speech in front of the monument because he is not a political leader or Head of State. His campaign team have described the speech a “substantive address on US-European relations”.

The presidential candidate and his aides have attempted to play down any comparisons with the historic speeches, but it is clear that the Illinois senator is looking to signal a clear break from recent US foreign policy.

“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 travelling with him.

Mr Obama’s arrival in Berlin marks the start of the brief European leg of his express world tour. The senator has already visited Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and the West Bank on a trip due to end in London and meetings with both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Around 700 police officers have been deployed to marshal Mr Obama’s visit to Germany. Many of them were on duty this morning, as he waved with Mrs Merkel to a group of Bavarian schoolchildren in front of the Reichstag.

The American then entered the chancellery opposite the parliament building with Mrs Merkel for talks behind closed doors.

The German Chancellor had previously told reporters that she planned to talk about climate change and global free trade, as well as reaffirming Germany’s refusal to send combat troops to southern Afghanistan.

Mr Obama will also hold talks with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Foreign Minister, this afternoon.

The senator’s tour is intended to highlight his ability to operate on the global stage with some supporters of Senator John McCain questioning Mr Obama’s foreign policy credentials.

The Democrat will hope that his tour of the Middle East and meetings in France, Germany and the UK will prove to an American television audience that he could become a successful statesman.

Vernon Thomas, an 18-year-old American tourist from Omaha, Nebraska, said he was astounded by the support that he has seen in Germany for the senator.

“I think it’s amazing. There are more people to see him here in Berlin than in my hometown,” said Mr Thomas. “For someone to get that much support in a foreign country, it’s spectacular.”

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