It is good to learn that we now have a European Barack Obama in Cem Özdemir, a youthful and slim ethnic Turk who got elected co-chairman of Germany’s Green Party, and who may one day go as far as becoming the country’s foreign minister (“Cem Difference,” November 22, 2008). Although the president of the United States arguably ranks a bit higher than a co-chairman of German Greens, your point is well taken. One would only hope that there will eventually come into existence an American Green Party, too, and that it will play a rôle at least as important as it now does in Germany, as well as in several other European countries. A secretary of state from the ranks of American Greens is a bit too much to hope for at this juncture, though.