If Obama was addressing the “Islamic world” in what capacity was that ? As it is America is already considered the leader of the Christian/Crusader nation by Osama Bin Laden and the average person in the Middle East - none of them view America as a secular country especially given your strong support for the Jewish world/ state in Israel.

Obama, if anything reinforced the prism that OBL wants those Muslims of the world (who are insane and bloodthristy enough to listen to him in the first place)to view America through.

The more appropriate words should have been the Arab world and states that have very close economic, religious and geopolitical interests with the Arab world -take for example,Pakistan.I dont think he was addressing the 150 million Muslims in India, or the equal number of Muslims in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia or in African countries like Nigeria - and hope you realize here that the number of Muslims in all these countries exceed that of the number of Muslims in all of the Arab states.

I would be alarmed if he did - coming from India, and having seen first hand how many people tried to divide the country into Hindus and Muslims (does any one remember the rationale for Pakistan ?), I am not exactly comfortable with Indian Muslims seeing themselves as part of the “Muslim world”.

This does not mean that iam denying their faith - it simply means that I dont want them to feel that they belong to something other than a diverse and multi cultural India - the exact same way you wouldnt exactly like US citizens of foreign origin to hang on to the identity of their host countries - again, I understand that this does not mean that you are demaning that people should forget their roots - but at the same time, they also have to remember that they are American NOW first and foremost and every thing else later.

Obama claims that he lived in Indonesia but he behaves that he knows nothing about it - they are easily among the most moderate Islamic nations on earth, along with the Malaysians. Their women folk follow traditional dress codes but are allowed to work in public places - any one who has been to Kuala Lampur or Jakarta can attest to that.

If anything Obama should have pointed to the moderate nature of these two countries and shown how much they have progressed -and how they are able to treat their women with far more dignity than the stonings and honor killings you see in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the entire Arab world.

Leave it to a Democrat to clump Muslims as one homegeneous block of people -they play identity politics all the time and it comes easy to them. I am disappointed that you fell for the “Muslim” world meme too.

I did like the passage where he said that women can and should be equal participants in civil society in these Islamic states - it was met with stony silence. Imagine that ! we are talking about a University here - a place of learning. And they could not applaud him for that ??

The shallowness with which the MSM has treated Obama’s “outreach” is pretty predictable - but i would also like to point out that you guys look pretty condescending to Arabs and the “Muslim” world when you use words such as “outreach”.

This was a start by Obama - a dangerous one, that is.

It’s not as if civilized commentary is impossible on mainstream Conservative blogs; LGF has turned in quite an enjoyable site to lurk around now that they have banned the worst of the kooks. The Volohk Conspiracy is a joy to read, with the commentators usually bashing the posters! (Right Wing Nut House is pretty good at this too, but that should go without saying.)

From the outside it seems like trying to stake out a place on ‘the thoughtful right’ is like trying to stake out a place as a flea on a rabid dog. Until you jump off — or you get scratched off — you’re going to be taken on a ride to a place you don’t want to go.

Your articulate, intelligent man-boy emperor in the WH isn’t going to be able to clean up the mess he’s made in the last 4 months, never mind the messes he and his fascist administration have planned. His messes are going to stick big time. Maybe you are one of those privileged fortunate few who will be able to escape the stink when it hits, but a doubt it.

It was elegant and subtle. A very smart play, particularly since he’s doing it all so early in his term.

I’m just not convinced that it makes any difference. Perhaps it is a minority of Muslims that are extremists, but those are the ones that are running the various countries (sometimes behind the scenes, as in Egypt and Saudi Arabia). As long as we have any association or support for Israel, they will not like us, and they will not be our friends.

Even apart from that, the religion itself seems very clear that there’s not any tolerance for non-believers. Christians seem to have the same goals (spread it everywhere), but not at the point of a gun.

I guess what bothers me most about the trip is the snub to the only mid-east country that is an ally. It’s one thing to barely mention Israel in the speech (keep a low profile on our relationship with them since it ignites such hatred- I get that), but to visit so many middle-east countries and not grace them with the respect of a visit diminishes our relationship, and encourages the enemies of Israel.

For example this comment: “President Obama decided to tempt the fates, grab history by the tail, and take on a task from which Hercules himself would have shied away: changing the perception of how the United States is viewed in the Muslim world.”

Um, sorry, but … rubbish. GHWBush tried to change perceptions - Oslo accords. Clinton tried as well - He had Arafat over for a visit. GWBush after 9/11 directly addressed Arab people, gave a famous speech on democracy …
http://www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/reform/bush2003.htm
Yes, Obama has uniquely decided to talk directly to foreign audiences, in a way not much seen since Reagan in ‘tear down that wall’ mode. That innovation is different and would be useful, if it was put to good use with a message that gave an American message in a palatable way to Muslim audiences. But it wasnt (see below). In other words, lets stop giving this nonsensical “oh, he’s trying so that means it must be some good.” So was Bush and I never heard his great efforts to move the ball on democracy in Arab countries win plaudits ‘for effort’. Results count. WE didnt grade previous presidents on effort, lets not do it here.

There was too much in Obama’s speech that was flat-out false and fatuous that it rendered it useless to the job of winning Muslims audiences to OUR side. Rather, it simple ingratiated Obama with them by pandering to their preconceived notions, except in a few places, where the push was soft the point of not-being-there.

Obama comes off as sounding more like a candidate for UN secretary-general than a US President, not *challenging* these foreign audiences to respect serious truths about terrorism and freedom and democracy, but pandering to them by flattering them with white lies (eg his hyperbole about Islamic science is nonsense that comes straight out from pro-muslim propaganda PR) that elided the essential problems and challenges they face. In short, pandering aint leadership nor statesmanship. Its just pandering, and unless he’s running for mayor of Cairo one has to ask “To what end?”

The hammer-hits-nail part of Moran’s analysis was this: “while forcing them to listen to a few (too few, as it turned out) truths about Islam and the threat of extremists”

TOO FEW. Indeed. Not a ‘great speech’ or even good speech. But a missed opportunity

To put an analogy on it: Obama could flatter a black American audience with a message akin to Al Sharpton’s, or he could challenge them with the tough love of a Bill Cosby message. One might get more applause, but which one would do most good?

I saw the comment ’stupid and dangerous’ as one reaction. It fits. The stupid part is how Obama in effect distanced himself from America - “Hey those bad Americans did that, its not me” - in an attempt to curry favor. So the muslim world will like HIM, but it will not necessarily cause the NEEDED self-examination nor look differently or more positively at what USA is doing. The dangerous part was the false moral equivalences that will - if taken seriously - put America in a rhetorical and policy box when facing real threats. Is he serious that Iran has the same rights to nuclear technology as the USA? Will his false moral equivalences move us closer? Not really because it panders to the most resistant and stubborn in the Arab world.

“All in all, it really was a quite forgettable speech domestically except for the objectionable parts. ” - I agree. In catering to the muslim audiences, Obama has said many things (again!) that raise hairs on spine back home.

And regardless of how Muslims ultimately react, nothing has changed regarding Iran, Hezbollah, and our challenges in Afghanistan. No, one speech or a thousand speeches weren’t going to make a difference on those fronts. Policies and military responses will. Obama has been good on Afghanistan, and rather poor on the looming Iranian and Lebanese elections. How he responds to these potential crises will be how he is ultimately judged.

And did you think that GWB was better at this? You are truly right wing nuts on this blog. Incredible. In fact I don’t think we had a genuine news conference from george for the first nine months he was in office. He was too shy, didn’t know how, couldn’t give intelligible speeches…. and it never got any better with him. LOL

Fortunately we have an articulate, intelligent man in the WH to clean up the bush/cheney messes.