The Speech
Damascus
The buildup for President Obama's speech today in Cairo has been prodigious, and not least by the White House, which has held the sort of briefings for journalists that usually attend a State of the Union address and also plans to translate the speech into 13 languages. The expectations are enormous. Brother Howard Fineman, writing in that other newsmagazine, compared the Cairo Address to Obama's Philadelphia speech on race last year, which helped to extricate him from the Reverend Jeremiah Wright situation and frame him as judicious moderate on racial issues. But the real purpose of this speech is not so immediate.
I'd say the best precedents are the two Berlin addresses given by American Presidents, at the beginning and the end of the construction of the Berlin Wall. John F. Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech was a full-throated announcement of a continuing American policy--the protection of a free Berlin. Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" speech came near the end of the cold war, and was a full-throated call for a Soviet surrender.
The Obama speech will be neither, I'd guess--but it will contain elements of both. It will revise America's posture in the region, toward a more respectful, ameliorating stance than the arrogant pushiness that marked the Bush Administration, especially in the leadup to and prosecution of the war in Iraq. Obama has already begun laying the groundwork toward that, especially in his Ankara speech. But what comes next? The immediate question will be about specifics: what sort of promises or demands will he make? Will he again call on the Israeli government to halt its illegal settlements? Will he call on the Arab world, including Hamas, to officially recognize Israel--or make diplomatic gestures leading toward recognition--in return? Will he renew the "freeze for freeze" offer--a sanctions freeze if the Iranians stop enriching nuclear fuel--or will he send another signal to the Islamic Republic that the U.S. wants to begin comprehensive negotiations soon?
But the immediate signals are not nearly as important as the long-term change of tone. Obama is proposing diplomacy--and diplomacy moves slowly. As James Baker told Campbell Brown, when asked about how you achieve progress in the region last night:
Well, you get there by doing what the president is doing.
Show these people that we value the relationship that has existed for
many years between their countries and our country. Pay them attention,
which he is certainly doing. Meet with them, listen to their concerns. And explain to them the importance of U.S. policy goals. That's a way you get there. And I think it's very healthy that he is doing this.
Sometimes things do happen quickly in diplomacy--Anwar Sadat tells Walter Cronkite that he's willing to open talks with Israel--but most often they don't. Obama is still setting the stage, putting the pieces into place. Those who see the speech as an attempt to solve a specific dispute or put pressure on a specific country are looking at this too narrowly. The President wants a general lowering of the temperature in the region. That will take some doing. This will be the start.
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with respect, I think you are missing the story here, Joe. Obama's widespread distribution of the speech is changing the diplomatic game. Combine that with (we will see if he really sticks with it) his plan (via NYT) to to tell the truth about the nature of mid east conflict and we are looking at a transformative approach to diplomacy in the region.
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I have just tweeted that this admin looks to be not R v D but rather graft v governance. that conflict is not partisan, but it is deep. Israeli claims of secret deals on settlements is just the icing. -
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[...] have no idea what Obama is gonna say in his speech from Cairo. But I think I can safely say the wingnut media won’t like it. Not at all. But they [...]
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Well, if that noted liberal commie pinko DFH James Baker thinks "it's very healthy that he is doing this" then clearly Rush and the disgraced Newt Gingrich need to call Obama out as foolish and naive and unamurican. Right texte and spob and rusty?
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Well, if that noted liberal commie pinko DFH James Baker thinks "it's very healthy that he is doing this" then clearly Rush and the disgraced Newt Gingrich need to call Obama out as foolish and naive and unamurican. Right texte and spob and rusty?
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It's not even worth parodying them anymore. There needs to be some element of unpredictability in order for mockery to have its zest, and they just ain't got it any more. It's almost Pavlovian their reactions to anything Obama does anymore. It's starting to lose its funness. -
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yust - check out the NYTimes comment thread on the upcoming speech. Talk about Pavlovian. http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2009/06/05/world/middleeast/05prexy.html
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The speech was very impressive - blunt and subtle at the same time. Not hard to see how the wingnuts will receive it, though Fox took a few minutes to get up to speed in criticizing it. Seemed nonplussed. On CNN they were managing to complain about the lack of specific plans.
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But the immediate signals are not nearly as important as the long-term change of tone....
On CNN they were managing to complain about the lack of specific plans.....
I personally thought he did a very good job of articulating the American ideal. Democracy and Freedom, neither comeplete without the other. -
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kathy: I haven't heard the Faux and CNN talking heads discuss the speech, but, in my mind's eye, I imagine what it would sound like if they were to give the play-by-play for a chess match:
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"That move! What did it accomplish? Nothing?..."
"Obama's got knights, rooks and bishops and he moves a *pawn*? Lame..."
"Look! The opponent moved his queen and Obama didn't? This will seriously reduce America's standing in the world..." -
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There needs to be some element of unpredictability in order for mockery to have its zest, and they just ain't got it any more. It's almost Pavlovian their reactions to anything Obama does anymore.
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I'm fairly convinced that texte is a bot. -
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While I'm still parsing the contents of the speech, I think that in terms of forebearers, more than the 'Ich bin Ein', or the 'tear down this wall', should have been an 'ask not what this country can do for you, but what you can do for this country' sort of commentary on the part of the Arabs and Muslims to whom the speech is directed.
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Mutual respect and interests are key, but without mutual obligations and responsibilities, the speech will remain just a verbal marker in the historic relationship between the West and the Muslim world. -
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[...] The Speech [...]
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Stop kissing Joe. It's not going to work this time. We all know about the one time when the lonely princess royal kissed her froggie and found herself a charming Prince but this is not a repeat, Joe.
No amount of kissing is going to turn your toad into a Reagan or a JFK because he simply is not that material. They were Great Men, Joe, at a time when Great Men needed no kissing.
What you have is a toad that will remain a toad. And when the 72 days are up you will find it all over your face, Joe. Sometimes we get what we deserve.
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[...] The Speech [...]
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[...] The Speech [...]
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[...] The Speech [...]
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[...] The Speech [...]
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