President Obama's speech in Cairo this week was mixed at best. Whereas I agree with the intent of reaching out to the Muslim world, he missed many opportunities and appeared weak in it.I won't discuss the entire speech, but will go over the main things I just mentioned.
On the positive side he did make an effort to talk to the young populations in the Middle East, a population that is largely ruled by authoritarian dictators. If, as he said, the Middle East must overcome the caricatures and propaganda their nations spew out, then we can see a new generation that is open to democracy and the acceptance of better relations with both the US and Israel.
As far as the negative though, there is far more. On numerous occasions he seeks to make moral equivalencies, from the start in fact. He seeks to compare the Holocaust to Palestinians being "forced" from their homes upon the creation of Israel. It seems he wants to make excuses for the Muslim world, taking away the fact that they must take responsibility for their own bad behavior.
He doesn't make any mention of the words terrorist or terrorism though. He also makes no mention of all we have done for the Muslim world, from liberating Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq recently, to defending Muslims in Bosnia and Kuwait in the '90s. It seems he doesn't want to take responsibility for anything the US has done in the past, only seeing the here and now and not realizing that the Presidency is bigger than himself.
Another startling part of the speech are the places where he somewhat defends the Iranian nuclear program and apologizes for the 1953 coup, the latter something President Ahmedinejad asked for. This will most likely be played up in Iran for propaganda purposes.
Even though he did say Israel and the US had an unbreakable bond, the fact that he didn't visit speaks volumes. What bothers me most about his speeches overseas is his inability to not apologize for his country. As President he should know better.
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1 comment:
I agree with you 100%. I think he looks down upon the past administration and what they have accomplished like you mentioned liberating Iraq, which ignorant Americans have no idea how grateful that country is for what President Bush did.
Another thing is the war on terror will always be known as that and not this "Overseas Contingency Operation" nonsense. If the muslim world wants respect from us then they will have to turn their backs on their fellow brethren (the extremists) and join together in our democratic society that eventually brings peace to the middle east and eradicates Iran's nuclear intentions. They should not have the right to nuclear power. Obama has no idea what he is saying when mentioning that. He's done this before where he's trying to muster up a relationship with guys like Ahmadenijead, Ortega, Castro, Chavez, etc. and they warm up to him face-to-face and talk trash behind his back.
I don't pay attention to what critics say. The point is, I want the President to succeed as the leader of this country, but when he makes bad decision after bad decision, adding trillions to the national debt, bailing out failing businesses amongst other things and condemning our war on TERRORISM, it's hard to support him and his ideology.
I think more and more people are starting to wake up and realize that our freedom isn't something to be reckoned with or laid out on the line like Mr. Obama likes to do. It's time we delve deep into our heritage as members of the GOP and hopefully in 2012 come out successful with a return to good old fashioned values that makes this country the best country in the world!
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