Barack Obama will be speaking in Berlin, Germany tomorrow, in an outdoor address open to the German public. Obama is extremely popular in Europe — a recent Pew Research poll showed him leading McCain by a whopping 50 percent in countries like France and Germany. In fact, Obama led McCain on the question of “confidence to do the right thing in world affairs” in every single country polled — except the United States, where McCain has a one-point lead.

Financial Times columnist Philip Stephens writes that anticipation of Obama’s visit is so intense that “Europe can scarcely contain itself.” “Growing excitement” in Germany is no exception:

For Monika Staffel, wearing an “Obama for President” button is nothing unusual, even though she’s a German citizen and won’t be voting in the US presidential election this November. This election is too important to stay on the sidelines, she said.

“We are waiting urgently for change because Bush has caused a lot of damage in the world,“ the 46-year-old from western Germany said after visiting a stand two American Obama supporters had set up in Berlin’s central Gendarmenmarkt square.

Answering criticism from the McCain campaign that Obama was using the Berlin speech as a “campaign prop”, the Obama campaign insisted that the speech would not be “political” or tantamount to a “political rally.”

“It is not going to be a political speech,” said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. “When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally.”

“But he is not president of the United States,” a reporter reminded the adviser.

“He is going to talk about the issues as an individual … not as a candidate, but as an individual, as a senator,” the adviser added.

[...]When pressed by reporters, aides could not rule out that the campaign might use a film crew to shoot footage for an ad.

Another Spiegel article explains how the Obama campaign is planning to successfully navigate the “tight-rope walk” of convincing American voters he is “presidential” without alienating Americans who may be turned off by the enthusiastic adulation lavished on Obama by a European audience.

Today it was reported that this German-language poster was printed and distributed by the Obama campaign in Berlin to promote the candidate’s upcoming speech:

…prompting some conservative bloggers to jokingly ask whether Obama was running for President of the United States or President of Earth.

Meanwhile, John McCain’s message will also be reaching residents of Berlin — Berlin, New Hampshire; Berlin, Pennsylvania; and Berlin, Wisconsin. The RNC will be airing McCain radio ads in those three media markets tomorrow in an attempt to capitalize on the media attention devoted to Obama’s speech and generate some buzz in those key states. The McCain campaign has complained about the media’s “love” for Obama and the saturation coverage his overseas trip is receiving.

The CNN link above has the text of McCain’s radio ad.

**UPDATE:

Perhaps the excitement isn’t that universal. My cousin from Germany e-mails me this poll from the Welt Online (a major German newspaper):

Question: What do you think about Obama’s speech in Berlin?

4%   Exciting - I’ll definitely go there
22%   Important - I’ll watch it on TV
8%   Boring - I don’t care about Obama
65%   Annoying - This Obama hype is just exaggerated