Obama's speech: thumbs up

ANALYSIS: Using New Language, President Shows Understanding for Both Sides in Middle East, By Glenn Kessler and Jacqueline L. Salmon, Washington Post, June 5, 2009

Having heard it both live and in clips, I thought it was an excellent speech. Obama has such a clean and clear style of speaking at such moments--very accessible. A lot of the lines were bits you could feel yourself saying on the same subjects. Suffice it to say the man has good speechwriters and knows how to deliver.

I find a lot of the nitpicking analysis on the speech to be silly--it was a speech and not some full-blown doctrine!

As outreach, it was crisp and very open in tone--exactly what it should be. There was no point in announcing policy shifts at a moment like that and it's just not his style.

So I give it a thumbs up and say it accomplished what it was supposed to: make a connection to ordinary people looking for reasons not to indulge in or support violent extremism or religious hatred.

Comments

[outback]

A nice step in the right direction by Obama, but it was only just a speech. The US media reacts like it was some grand shift in American policy, but it is not. It also sets up enormous expectations for Obama to get things done in the Middle East that no President in my lifetime has been able to get done. Perhaps he should be careful about setting the bar too high.

[Jimmy J.]

I agree that the speech was about right for the intent of reaching out to moderate Muslims. That said, when something like 60% of Muslims are convinced that 9/11 was carried out either by the Israelis or the CIA, it's going to take some doing to convince them the U.S. is not at war with Islam. Also, George Bush attempted to reach out but, after the start of the Iraq War, few in the Muslim world were listening to him. If the 1.4 billion moderate Muslims would stand up to the troublemakers (1 million or so strong?) the problems with Islamic terrorism would be over. This speech may not have that effect, but it can't hurt.

[Javaid Akhtar]

Strange psychology with 'Muslims'.Its a victim mentality that has been inbred through the local media ( Chechnya, Bosnia , Palestine Kashmir.....see it every day...you begin to think differently).So you get emotional based 'logical' arguments.Like.....OBL and hijackers are fighting back against cruel Westerners....or they are cruel Western backed creations ....all within the same breath.That kind of mental gymnastics comes about from a sincererly and strongly felt sense of victimhood....not clarity.George Bush just fed those fires inadvertently.Obama is just too smart to fall over the signposted banana skins that the neo-cons had an addiction for.

[Mark]

I'll be much more impressed when Obama tells the moderate Muslims to stand up and take care of business...so the US doesn't have to. Or as Tom would put it, give them the minimal rule set, enough help to attract direct investment and expect them to live up to it, without the leviathan in their front yard.

To the nitpickers: Like the guy (Obama) or not it is much tougher to find out what is going on "over there" if you don't engage them in some way other than to stick a gun in their ear.

[Louis Heberlein]

The Lebanon election may be the first meaningful positive response. Good timing. Another soon, even though that public still dislikes US?