President Obama's transformational speech addressing Muslim nations (and everyone else) from Cairo, Egypt this morning.
The text of the speech is here.
This speech by any measure was amazing. As President Obama himself said no one speech will change everything nor answer every question but I believe it has the potential of sowing the seeds of change in many countries in the Middle East.
I wonder how many of his detractors will note that he said in front of the Muslim world that he himself is a Christian.
Its really no matter because no matter what he said today many right wingers will find something to criticize, but the great thing is his speech wasn't aimed at them. And for those the speech WAS aimed at I believe it will resonate.
The speech President Obama gave today isn't just about Muslim leaders. What he is doing is also reaching out to the citizens of Muslim countries, the people who actually vote people in and vote people out. He is also reaching out to non Muslim countries that have traditionally been our allies but are estranged because of our adventure into Iraq. The reason why the members of our military are in so much danger in both Iraq and Afghanistan is becasue Bush and Cheney phucked up our relationships just to try to get into Iraq that many of the allies who normally would be helping us carry the load in an armed conflict are not willing to put their troops in the line of fire. Now when they see our President talking about giving everyone a fair shake and ending this neoconic bellicosity towards each and every country that makes even the slightest threat against us whether they have the capacity to carry it out or not, the more likely they are to actually put some skin in the game and help us in the armed conflicts we are still engaged in.
This speech as will all other diplomatic moves Pres Obama has made since taking office is about sowing seeds that can grow over time that will eventually improve our national security whether by other nation's citizens rejecting their current leadership or traditional allies coming back to the table to help us around the world.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Liz Cheney is on MSNBC criticizing the speech right now. Someone at some point will have to explain her foreign policy credentials to me.
ReplyDeleteJust finished watching the speech and my fav parts are when he called Iraq a war of choice and when he called out Muslim countries for their treatment of women. I'm impressed actually. Which is odd for me since I used to work for Obama and am rather aware of his abilities. This one does impress me, however.
ReplyDelete