Brandenburg Gate not venue for Obama speech: aides

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama has decided against using the Brandenburg Gate as a backdrop for a speech in Berlin, his aides said on Friday.

The Democratic White House candidate plans to travel next week to Jordan, Israel, Britain, France and Germany. The Berlin speech will be one of the major events of the tour.

"Barack made clear to us very early ... that he didn't think it made sense at all for him to speak at the Brandenburg Gate, which he thought would be too perhaps presumptuous," said Denis McDonough, a senior foreign policy aide to Obama.

The Obama campaign would not give dates for any events on the trip but a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Merkel would meet Obama in Berlin next Thursday.

Some Obama advisers had tentatively raised with German officials the possibility of holding the speech at the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of German unity.

Merkel has said through a spokesman she would frown upon using the landmark for "electioneering."

Former President Ronald Reagan stood in front of the gate when he called on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." Bill Clinton also used it as a backdrop.

Republican John McCain, Obama's opponent in the November election, said the European trip seemed to be an attempt hold a political rally abroad. Obama is popular in Europe and the Berlin speech is expected to draw a large crowd.

Obama's aides said he was looking at several possible locations for his speech.

Ben Rhodes, a foreign policy adviser and speechwriter to Obama, said the Berlin speech will deal with "the need to strengthen the trans-Atlantic relationship to deal with 21st century challenges."

Obama will meet several foreign leaders during the trip including Merkel, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Jordan's King Abdullah, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

(Editing by Alan Elsner and Todd Eastham)