In the fall of 1988, under cloudy skies just outside Berlin, our Army Blackhawk helicopter came around, giving us our first view of the Berlin Wall. I and other members from my platoon in the first Infantry Division caught our breaths. The Wall was legendary and firmly planted as a black and malevolent Jungian archetype just beneath the surface of my generations' subconscious. We thought its fortified concrete and razor sharp concertina wire would stand forever.

A Soviet Hind D Attack Helicopter, little more than 1,000 yards away, slowly, ominously, patrolled the other side of the wall. Having cleaved the German people in half, and all of Europe, we could never have surmised that this symbol of tyranny would be breached and reduced to rubble in little more than a year. I believe now that our military presence on the free side of that wall made its destruction inevitable. Watching the hated wall come down on television 20 years ago this month, I was ecstatic for the German people, and never so proud to be an American.

It was an odd feeling for an old reservation boy to find himself on the doorstep of history. Until then, all that I knew about Soviet aggression was what I'd heard from the three networks or read in history books or magazines. But the site of the actual gray and graffiti- stained 87-mile-long obelisk gave me breathless pause. Here was the steel and concrete proof that collectivists' ideas can and do have evil results. A year later, its opposite became manifest: that the fountain of liberty wells up in the hearts of all men and women.

I say this with the knowledge that, as of this writing, my president, Barack Obama, will not be accepting German chancellor Angela Merkel's invitation to attend the 20th anniversary celebration of the fall of the wall next week. He'll send along some stooge, like the secretary of state, instead. Meanwhile, having recently dragged his sorry and defeated tail back from Copenhagen and the Chicago Olympics debacle last month, next month, he's off to Oslo to accept a medal and give a speech. Speeches he's good at, everyone agrees; especially speeches apologizing for the bad old hegemonic United States.

Look for newsrooms around the country to have pools for the over and under on when his Nobel Prize speech offers its first apology for our country. A second pool will spring up for its first disclaimer saying everything is better since his ascendency, ahem, election. You see, there's no way traveling to Berlin next week can be made to be about Barack. In fact, this time at the Brandenburg Gate - heaven forfend - Mr. Obama might be expected to utter a kind word about his country for deeds that predate him - and to an international audience! This will not do so, never mind, we simply shan't be going.

It'd be nice to see our president treat a valuable ally with a minimum of respect. For all his globetrotting, Germany has yet to appear on his itinerary; although, after 10 months he's managed to spend about a month's worth of afternoons golfing and another month's worth of nights attending Democratic fundraisers. Important stuff, I suppose, and at least one of them provides for excellent speechifying. But is it any way to govern?

About our young president, I've tried to keep my powder dry. Meditating on whether or not the patriotism I felt when the Berlin Wall came crashing down was justified, I decided it was a no-brainer. Took about two seconds. So, Mr. President, wherever you are on Nov. 9, whether it's the links or some hotel ballroom, please take a moment to reflect. We did a good thing that day. You could look it up.

David Rooks lives and works in Hot Springs. Write to lakinst@gwtc.net. Find all local columnists and more at the Journal opinion site: www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/opinions/