NEW : Obama : `` Like millions around the world , I am deeply concerned about what is happening in my country. Theater proved a potent weapon against Czechoslovakia 's Communist rulers , who stepped down without a shot being fired in the weeks after the Berlin Wall fell , signaling the defeat of the region 's authoritarian Moscow-backed regimes . The anti-Communist dissident got into politics partly through his love of rock and roll . He had a puckish sense of humor and a deeply serious mind . He became president of Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution .
NEW : Obama : `` Like millions around the world , I am deeply concerned about what is happening in my country. The anti-Communist dissident got into politics partly through his love of rock and roll . He had a puckish sense of humor and a deeply serious mind . He became president of Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution .