I’m too swamped today to write an original analysis of the Cairo speech. (You can watch the video at Salon.) Reactions:
M.J. Rosenberg: Speech “fair and balanced.”
Alex Koppelman: Speech titled “A New Beginning.” As opposed to an old beginning, I suppose.
Steve Benen: A dramatic success.
Who hated it?
- The Right. You know where they are.
- Hamas and Hezbollah. See various comments at the BBC.
- Iran.
Other stuff: Today also is the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The link is to a very good account of what went down that day written by the Guide to Asian History at About.com, Kallie Szczepanski.
I watched the whole speech. It is the speech that I would have given had I the talent, skill and position of POTUS.
I do not think that Hamas et al hated the speech. They just want to see some concrete follow up action.
Arriving at a peaceful solution that all sides (Palestinians & Israelis) can agree on and will live with will be the one event that will bring us closer to world peace.
This is why Obama will never ever ever be “Bush III” or “Bush Lite” or anything even remotely resembling his predecessor. For the remainder of the Obama presidency, we’re each of us going to be frustrated or angry with him for one legitimate reason or another. Sometimes several legitimate reasons at once.
But where Dubya tromped through the Middle East like a drunken Godzilla, vomiting fire over the entire region and arousing hatred with each bloody footprint, Obama arrives to cheers and curiosity, speaks with a clear mind, and earns the respect of people who have awful, valid reasons to hate the U.S. As a maker of friends, he shows promise. As a maker of enemies, he’s pretty poor; all the work has to be done, creatively, by his haters. And because the Right only exists to have enemies, naturally they despise this speech.
I would suspect the right would be critical of this speech for being something silly like “naive” and too familiar to Neville Chamberlian. On the other hand, people who can still think rationally, have to admit the President said all the right things and are willing to admit the USA needed to open a hand to the Muslim world. President Obama did just that today. As Obama said today, the question is can people finally step out of the past and the tit for tat attitude that has paralyzed our political process and discourse? I think the question is just as appropriate for the US political debate as for the Israeli – Palestinian question.
Obama made a major policy shift without a policy announcement. The US has been the 800-pound gorilla who allowed, even encouraged Israel to pursue heavy-handed anti-terrorist measures. Obama is unqualified in his support for Israel’s right to exist,but he wants Israel to back off on settlements and quit treating the Gaza as a gulag. Israel (in effect) told Obama to take a long walk off a short pier.
Israel is a sovereign country, not the 51st state. But it’s not smart of Israel to expect the US to support them militarily, veto every censure of Israel in the UN while telling the POTUS that he has no right to exert influence in the region. Without backing away from Israel’s right to exist, Obama is ‘dating’ other countries in the region, Moslem countries, talking about the Palestinian issue and how to move peace forward. Israel is on the outside looking in, and they don’t like it. If progress can be made with peace talks, Obama may invite others, Europe &/or the UN; Israel is going to feel very lonely and want to retract the ‘short pier’ policy and engage, or be left out, looking like the bigger asshole.
Peace is not possible without Israel being involved. The current government in Israel would like to open negotiations when all adversaries are intimidated by the military threat Israel can project, particularly with an 800-pound gorilla standing behind them. Today Jerusalem is trying to figure out what to do; the gorilla is talking to their enemies directly instead of standing behind them silently.
I was shocked to find This Post over at Redstate.HATE. The comments are predictably moronic and negative however the post itself actually compliments Obama’s speech! Shocking!
I hope Obama isn’t just giving lip service. He should suspend military aid to Israel as a token of good faith..after all, if Israel is able to support an army of occupation in the occupied territories then they must have an abundance of military supply already.
I was pleased to hear Obama say that the United States won’t engage in torture any more..I’m a firm believer in the old adage..”Confession is good for the soul”. I’m also glad he called torture what it is.. And not the old Nazi euphemism of enhanced interrogations.