President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo on relations between the West and the Muslim world was a tour de force. Watch it; read it. (My colleague Nick Baumann lists the nine hard truths in the speech.) But this episode is a reminder that a speech is composed of two elements: the words and the person delivering them. Look at this portion of the address:
Now, make no mistake: We do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan. We see no military -- we seek no military bases there. It is agonizing for America to lose our young men and women. It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and now Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can. But that is not yet the case.
...Today, America has a dual responsibility: to help Iraq forge a better future -- and to leave Iraq to Iraqis. And I have made it clear to the Iraqi people -- (applause) -- I have made it clear to the Iraqi people that we pursue no bases, and no claim on their territory or resources
It is not hard to imagine George W. Bush, as president, saying those same words. Yet millions of people at home and abroad would not have believed his claim to have no interest in sustaining a US military presence in Afghanistan, Iraq or anywhere else. Why? Well, if you don't know, you slept through the first eight years of this century. The fine words that Bush did frequently speak about promoting democracy abroad and protecting the world from tyrants and terrorists were undermined by his misrepresentations of the actual threats (see WMDs in Iraq) and his actions (see rushing to war in Iraq when the UN weapons inspections process was under way and working).
Obama has no such baggage. More important, he is willing to acknowledge US errors:
Just as America can never tolerate violence by extremists, we must never alter or forget our principles. Nine-eleven was an enormous trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals. We are taking concrete actions to change course. I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year.
That enhances his credibility. It's harder for America's critics in the Muslim world and elsewhere to depict the United States as an egocentric, self-interested empire, if the nation's leaders occasionally concede fault (even if it's only the fault of their predecessors). Conservatives hate this and have mocked Obama for going on an "apology tour." But arrogance does not enhance security. Humility might actually be good for the country's security.
Obama also helped his case by equal-handedly showing tough love for the Israelis ("It is time for these settlements to stop") and Palestinians ("It is a sign neither of courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus"). After the speech, I heard one veteran Lebanese journalist say that this was the first time a US president had truly placed the suffering of the Israelis and the Palestinians on the same level. That, too, will boost US credibility.
Obama was not kowtowing to Arab and Muslim governments. As Bush repeatedly did, he called for democratic reforms in Muslim countries ruled by autocrats. (How Obama will pursue this in policy terms remains a tricky matter.) He blasted the religious intolerance of Muslim fundamentalists. He urged equal rights and opportunity for women in Muslim nations. (Again, figuring out how to push for this will be difficult. What did Obama say to the Saudi king on this issue?)
But if by giving a speech, a president could press a reset button, Obama came close. His personal history, his non-Bushness, his recognition of US errors, his willingness to at least talk as if he wants to be an honest broker in the Mideast--all this gives him a shot at success in this profound and historic undertaking: defusing a clash of civilizations.
Toward the end of his speech, Obama said,
It's easier to start wars than to end them. It's easier to blame others than to look inward. It's easier to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There's one rule that lies at the heart of every religion -- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. (Applause.) This truth transcends nations and peoples -- a belief that isn't new; that isn't black or white or brown; that isn't Christian or Muslim or Jew. It's a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the hearts of billions around the world. It's a faith in other people, and it's what brought me here today.
We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written.
There's no telling if Obama's approach will work--though it seems a good bet he will not make relations between the West and the Muslim world any worse than they have become. He has embraced a tough task. Ultimately, he is calling for universal acceptance of a relativistic, ecumenical, multicultural view of human nature and the world. And there are fundamentalists on both sides of this divide who want none of that.
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Comments
The idea of "Muslim World" as a collective view is over simplistic.
Reactions to the speech will be as varied. It will be interesting to see if it has any effect and if we gain some support in parts of the Muslim world. I hope so.
Great piece!
Thanks
Posted by: capt
| June 4, 2009 12:21 PM
Nice post DC. I haven't read or heard Obama's speech, but with your analysis of it, I don't need to.
If I have time later, I will though.
Posted by: Alan
| June 4, 2009 12:31 PM
I'm checking out the new IE 8 I got last night. Not clear on all the new features yet, but so far I like it.
Posted by: Alan
| June 4, 2009 12:34 PM
IPF ‘heartened’ by Obama speech
http://blogs.jta.org/politics/
(many reactions - this is just the top headline. Not al are as pleased but some good stuff)
Posted by: capt
| June 4, 2009 1:39 PM
Norm Coleman Ready To Give Up Fight, Allies Say
http://tinyurl.com/ptl5az
****
Strike up the band - it is about time~!
Posted by: capt
| June 4, 2009 2:44 PM
Lindsey Graham: "I'm Deeply Troubled" By Sotomayor Nomination
http://tinyurl.com/o7bjno
*****
I'm pretty sure Lindsey is deeply troubled by all women, especially powerful women (that is unless they are wearing a strap-on)
Posted by: capt
| June 4, 2009 2:46 PM
Before Barack Obama can negoatiate, he realizes he must become a negotiator in the eyes of all parties involved.
www.brookestatestheobvious.blogspot.com
Posted by: BrookeATL
| June 4, 2009 4:05 PM
MINNESOTA VOTE FRAUD: 2,812 Dead Voters
Mark Ritchie is so concerned that all votes be counted, he’s gone out of his way to ensure even dead voters’ ballots were among those counted on behalf of Franken.
Thursday, June 4th at 10:50AM EDT
A review of Minnesota’s statewide database of registered voters revealed at least 2,812 deceased individuals voted in last November’s general election, according to a new report by the “traditional values” advocacy group Minnesota Majority.
After obtaining the list of voters who participated in November’s election, the group hired an independent firm who specializes in “death suppression” for direct mailing lists to review the data. The process, which involved matching names and addresses to state death records, bore troubling results.
According to Minnesota statute 201.13, the commissioner of health is to report monthly the name, address, date of birth, and county of residence of voting-age deceased residents to the secretary of state.
Presumably the commissioner of health would not issue incomplete reports (read: no motive), the blame then falls elsewhere – namely, at the feet of Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, whose partisan leanings and curious alliance with vote fraud-magnet ACORN are becoming more salient by the day.
~~~~~~
Barry's sheeple will do anything to win an election.
Posted by: freddie
| June 4, 2009 8:01 PM
Democrats and Republcans Share Equal Blame for the Economic Crisis
http://tinyurl.com/oexsse
*****
It takes two to tango. Every bad law passed is at the feet of both major parties.
Posted by: capt
| June 4, 2009 11:01 PM
IT’S ALL ABOUT ISLAM STUPID KAFIR
OBAMA QUOTES FROM VERSE 5:32 THE TEACHING FROM GOD THAT ORDERS THE MURDER OF 300 MILLION AMERICANS
FOR THE TRUTH ABOUT ISLAM GO TO www.godofmoralperfection.net and download ebook or order on Amazon.com paperback titled Islam: Evil In The Name of God.
Before there was Hitler, Mein Kampf and the SS there was Muhammad, the Koran and Muslim SS known as the Companions. Muhammad was the first Hitler.
By equating Christianity, Judaism with Islam, President Obama has placed a happy face on evil.
Obama quoted from Koran; “whosoever killeth a human being, it shall be as if he killed all mankind.”
But this is a TOTAL misrepresentation of Koran 5:32. What this verse states is “whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth..”
“Corruption in the earth” means that kafirs must be murdered for not converting to Islam. By refusing to convert, kafirs have declared war on Allah, are a danger to Islam creating corruption in the land and therefore must be murdered. This means the murder of 300 million Americans who have created corruption in the earth.
All Muslims regard the Koran as the divine book written by God himself. Every word of the Koran of extermination, murder, brutality, torture, beheading , etc is the word of God – divine and timeless. Any person who believes such nonsense is evil.
How could the President who understands Islam quote from a book that orders mass murder of his fellow countrymen?
Notice (below) verse 5:33. Isn’t this wonderful teaching from God. Kafirs must be killed or crucified or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off. This is the fate of 300 million Americans “who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land.”
These teachings have lead to the greatest holocaust in history – the mass murder of 270,000,000 kafirs by Muslim men of which 120,000,000 were blacks. Black males were castrated by Muslims. Millions of black men died from this savage operation. That is why there are NO blacks living in the Middle East. The President never mentioned any of this did he. Islam is incredible evil.
5:32 For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. Our messengers came unto them of old with clear proofs (of Allah's Sovereignty), but afterwards lo! many of them became prodigals in the earth.
5:33 The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom;
FOLLOWING IS JUST A SMALL SAMPLE OF 320,000 TEACHINGS OF MURDER, EXTERMINATION, SLAVERY, TORTURE, BRUTALITY THAT IS ISLAM
Slavery Is Great : If You Murder One of My Slaves I Will Murder One of Your Slaves
Verse 2.178: "O you who believe! retaliation is prescribed for you in the matter of the slain, the free for the free, and the slave for the slave, and the female for the female, but if any remission is made to any one by his (aggrieved) brother, then prosecution (for the bloodwit) should be made according to usage, and payment should be made to him in a good manner; this is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy; so whoever exceeds the limit after this he shall have a painful chastisement."
Convert Or Be Murdered: Your Choice
Verse 9.5 “Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”
Murder If Christians, Jews Do Not Submit To Dhimmihood ( Slavery)
Verse 9:29 “Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.”
Beheading
Verse 8:12” When thy Lord inspired the angels, (saying): I am with you. So make those who believe stand firm. I will throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and smite of them each finger.”
Paradise For Muslims Who Murder Or Are Killed In The Process Of Murdering Non Believers
9/11 is Verse 9:111
Verse 9:111 “Lo! Allah hath bought from the believers their lives and their wealth because the Garden (Paradise) will be theirs: they shall fight in the way of Allah and shall slay and be slain. It is a promise which is binding on Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur'an. Who fulfilleth His covenant better than Allah? Rejoice then in your bargain that ye have made, for that is the supreme triumph”
Murder All The Jews
“the Apostle of Allah said, 'Kill any Jew that falls into your power.”
Ibn Ishaq, Siratul Rasul, v. 553
Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 176 Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar:
Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O 'Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.' "
Unlimited Sex Slaves For Muslim Men To Rape, Torture, Murder
Verse 4:24 “And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you. Lawful unto you are all beyond those mentioned, so that ye seek them with your wealth in honest wedlock, not debauchery. And those of whom ye seek content (by marrying them), give unto them their portions as a duty. And there is no sin for you in what ye do by mutual agreement after the duty (hath been done). Lo! Allah is ever Knower, Wise.”
Beat Your Wife
Verse 4:34"Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great."
Posted by: Randy
| June 5, 2009 12:37 AM
Bush sounded more credible than Barack ever did. Barack is naive and is going to get us killed.
Mark
My analysis
http://mark24609.blogspot.com/2009/06/obamas-message-to-islam.html
Posted by: Mark
| June 5, 2009 1:44 AM
"And there are fundamentalists on both sides of this divide who want none of that."
No doubt!
Posted by: capt
| June 5, 2009 8:31 AM
Mark,
That is wrong in so many ways. Bush may have credibility in your eyes, but one may want to recognize that only about 25% to 30% of the US population shares that view. Among the entire world, it's a very small number who share that view ( a few percent if my memory serves).
I would make one suggestion. Visit news sources which come from outside the U.S. You may disagree with all of it, but it is shocking to find just how narrow our exposure to events is in this country.
You may also be shocked to learn just how low our country's esteem has dropped worldwide in the last decade.
But you have to see what the world sees, not what we are spoon-fed in this country.
Posted by: incredulous
| June 5, 2009 8:46 AM
"It is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head."
~ Sally Kempton
Posted by: capt
| June 5, 2009 8:49 AM
Never any connection between Iraq and al Qaeda, says Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney admitted this week that there never had been operational ccoperation between Baathist Iraq and al-Qaeda. He blamed the CIA. Is he suggesting that the CIA lied to him? If so, isn't that what nancy Pelosi got into such trouble for saying? In fact, we know that Cheney's own torture program backfired on him, since the al-Qaeda operaties he had tortured lied about an Iraq connection in order to escape further torture.
http://tinyurl.com/o3oute
****
To sound credible one must start with the truth.
(maybe it's just me?)
Posted by: capt
| June 5, 2009 8:56 AM
Dick (Uncut): Jon Stewart Destroys Cheney (and the National Press Club for Good Measure)
http://tinyurl.com/odpny6
With video . . .
Posted by: capt
| June 5, 2009 8:57 AM
Obama possesses by the truckload those two indispensable qualities of any great salesman: credibility and an unshakable belief in the superior value of his product. These, he positively oozed yesterday. Even his most cynical critics stopped short of denying his absolute faithfulness to the message -- and, although his predecessor possessed a similar but destructive degree of dogged faithfulness, the upside with Obama is that his faith lies, incontrovertibly, I think, in cooperation and understanding and the power of pragmatic thinking, not ideological and theological divisions.
http://blog.buzzflash.com/carpenter/407
Posted by: capt
| June 5, 2009 9:00 AM
Control of the lie: Cheney, Torture, and the Iraq War
[...]
In summary, the Bush administration knew they could not lie to the entire Congress and about something as serious as war. So they took the following measures:
-they first limited who would see intelligence to 8 people.
-they made sure that Bush loyalists were counted among those 8 (Sen. Roberts - see here).
-a special group in the DOD called the Office of Special Plans was created to "find" evidence on Iraq and these very same people also briefed members of Congress (the 8 members of Congress)
-a special group was created in the White House to lie to the American people called the White House Iraq Group.
-the torture program was created to "fix the facts" around the "policy" to go to war with Iraq (see Downing Street Memos) and those false confessions were used to brief the gang of 8 members of Congress. (and I wager for phase II, war with Iran.)
-and they lied to the same 8 people about what the torture program was and its purpose. So worried was Cheney about controlling this flow of information that he personally stepped in to brief the gang of 8, as we now know.
http://tinyurl.com/mq9p37
Posted by: capt
| June 5, 2009 9:14 AM
The Right Finds Its New Attack on Obama
Only a few hours after his historic speech conservatives go after the president.
http://tinyurl.com/oav7b9
*****
No surprise
Posted by: capt
| June 5, 2009 10:34 AM
Was Ronald Reagan an Even Worse President Than George W. Bush?
http://tinyurl.com/ouaond
Posted by: capt
| June 5, 2009 10:37 AM
Jon Stewart Calls Fox News Personalities "Extremists" For Their Coverage Of Obama's Cairo Speech (VIDEO)
Jon Stewart committed a lengthy opening segment to President Obama's speech in the Middle East last night. He explored the expectations of our president at home and abroad, looked a the rhetoric he used both to further the tenuous relationship America has with even its closest allies in the region and the rhetoric he used to ensure that no one thought he was caving on protection for Israel, advancement for women and an end to terror.
Then he got to the funny part: Fox News' crazypants coverage of the same events. The conservative news network had talking heads and anchors alike on air saying Obama buys in to extremism, that he's disingenuous, that he threw the intel community under the bus. Stewart responded to them by saying, "What a torture it must be for such pretty people to see such ugly things."
http://tinyurl.com/o53atl
Posted by: capt
| June 5, 2009 10:40 AM
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