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A New Beginning with Muslims As one might have anticipated, President Obama’s June 4 speech in Cairo was a masterpiece of well-researched, skillfully designed language consummately delivered. To be sure, there was some self-conscious “history” being constructed with his “outreach” to the Islamic/Muslim world; however, the potential for turning a very heavy page in recent history was obvious. Consequently, the speech was long and ambitious. But the most proximate issues addressed were those of Israel-Palestine and Iran. And Obama’s criticism of Israel and support for Palestinians was without precedent. His endorsement of Israel/U.S. relations as an “unbreakable” bond had a perfunctory air. In contrast, his lament for Palestinian suffering ("intolerable") appears more heartfelt. Previous U.S. criticism of Hamas was repeated, but muted. Every criticism of Palestinians/Hamas was balanced by one of Israel. Most striking was the statement rejecting the “legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements” and demanding they stop. These statements may be nuanced in practical application, but the rhetoric could be interpreted as requiring that all settlements must be removed. Additionally, the judgments decrying the human rights tragedy in Gaza left unmentioned the Hamas rocket terror attacks on southern Israel. And the curious juxtaposition of Obama visiting Buchenwald (in Germany) while avoiding a visit to Israel can be viewed as a serious snub. This approach is not going to be a winner in Tel Aviv. Obama continues his effort to reach out to Iran (the "Islamic Republic") clearly hoping that the presidential election on June 12 will net us a more moderate Iranian president. This may be a forlorn hope, but results in deliberately moderate language designed to isolate the current Iranian leadership. But when Obama says Iranian nuclear weapons would be a "decisive point," it is Delphic in its lack of explanation. And when he couples this comment to a further U.S. commitment to a world "in which no nations hold nuclear weapons," he offers up a hypothetical unreality, e.g., is he saying that the United States would give up its nukes if Iranians do not build them? Moreover, Obama needlessly opens some worm cans in his discussion of the need for religious freedom and toleration. His suggestion that differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims should be healed is condescending at best. How would Americans react to an Iranian ayatollah declaiming that we should "heal" differences between Catholics and Protestants or between the Catholic and Orthodox churches? Still another decanted worm container is the statement that there should not be restrictions on what clothing individuals can wear to reflect their religious preferences. Here the president gratuitously plunges into the shark pool of church/state politics in a number of countries – one of the hottest buttons in politico-social attitudes in countries as wide ranging as Turkey, France, and Canada. It is very close to direct interference in the domestic affairs of other countries. Finally, the president plods through a grab bag of odds and ends programs that sounded like a State of the Union promise list with something for everyone – business; science; education – before ending with a set of banalities (“It‘s easier to start wars than to end them. It’s easier to blame others than to look inward…”). Nevertheless, it is something on which we can build – and no one can say that the president has not tried to turn a new leaf, no matter how heavy that leaf might be. |
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