German authorities in Berlin are downplaying an incident earlier today in which a man drove his car through the security perimeter of the Siegessäule (Victory Column) where Barack Obama is scheduled to speak tomorrow. Reuters quotes police spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski as saying, “We don’t yet know what his motives were but it does not appear to have had anything to do with politics.” Really? Is the driver complaining about the price of paint? (The picture in today’s Der Tagesspiegel makes Schodrowski look like Sergeant Schultz.)