Obama Cairo speech to Muslims garners mixed reviews

June 5, 1:07 AMGeopolitics ExaminerMichael Hughes

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Barack Obama's speech to the Muslim world in Cairo today received extremely mixed reactions in both the U.S., Middle East and Central Asia, including naysayers, cheerleaders and the simply skeptical.  Overall, even those who raved about it said it must be followed up with immediate action for the speech to have any lasting significance.

UNITED STATES.  Conservative critics saw the speech as a typical liberal jeremiad, rife with empty platitudes emanating from an empty suit who, as Michael Savage would say, hates America.  Another speech that was all style and no substance by the hyperarticulate Obama,  a man that rejected his Islamic roots and played down his middle name when he ran for President, and now, due to political expediency, uses his background like a weapon to win favor, appease and bow down to Muslims, potentially helping them pave the way for the next caliphate.

Even liberal types found Mr. Obama's oratory wanting, especially those who saw Obama continuing the same policies as Bush with no true strategy for peace in the Middle East.  Including our own Marc Rubin, the New York Obama Administration Examiner, who summarized the content of the speech as all about "nothing":

As this speech showed, Obama has offered no new ideas, no new approaches no strategy, nothing really, which is why in an earlier column I referred to Obama's approach to the middle east as his Seinfeld strategy -- a strategy about nothing. Just like this speech. A speech that would have made Seinfeld and company proud.

But most Obama supporters praised Obama's speech as historic because of the way he reached out to Muslims and showed that the U.S. is ready to develop a mutual relationship.  Liberals also loved the fact that he quoted the Quran: "be conscious of God and always speak the truth". 

EGYPT.  According to Radio Free Europe, some Muslim leaders mocked the President.   Muhammad Habib, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, referred to his speech as "a public-relations address more than anything else."  Habib also said that Obama had an "unjust perspective" toward Palestine and that it was no different than that of President Bush and the neocons.

Talk about seeing things differently - listen to how Khalil al-Anani, a political analyst at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, saw the speech:

Today might be the 12th of September, 2001, because I think he closed that chapter of 9/11 and called for a new chapter in U.S. relations with the Muslim world."

There was a positive feeling on the streets of Cairo, with some of its citizens awestruck by Obama's ability to be direct and frank about U.S. and Muslim perceptions of one another.  In a Washington Post article Ahmed Sayeed, 34, a shoe salesman from the southern Egyptian town of Sohag said: "We've had 44 American presidents - and he is the only one that has done this." 

ISRAEL.  In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed optimism about Obama's speech but has not endorsed the idea of a Palestinian state. A spokesperson said that they looked forward to a "period where Israel will be recognized as a Jewish state and that we can live without fear of violence and terrorism."

Aliza Herbst, spokeswoman for the Council of Jewish Settlers likened Mr. Obama's speech to singer John Lennon's utopian ballad "Imagine."  "When it comes from an American president, it's scary," she said. "He's trying to make world peace and we're going to pay for it. He's demanding things that aren't going to happen." 

PALESTINE.  Ahmed Yousef, a Hamas spokesman said that Obama's address was reminiscent of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but Hamas would still not recognize Israel.  He also said:  "What he said about Islam was great. What he said about Palestinian suffering and a Palestinian state is great, but we have a lot of reservations."

Mahmoud Rahahi, another Hamas official said: "President Obama asked Hamas to stop the rockets, at the same moment, he did not speak of anything about 1,500 Palestinians killed in the last invasion of Israel in Gaza."

PAKISTAN.  A taxi-driver in Islamabad was impressed with Obama quoting from the Koran and his grasp of Islamic history.  The driver said:  “He seems to know more about Islam than our own leaders."  Other Pakistani students echoed similar themes of awe and respect for Obama's gift to connect with the Muslim world.  But they too also reinforced that what is most important is that the U.S. implement these ideals.

It is true that more substance is required  from the Obama administration - more actions and not words.  As Lou Holtz once said: "After all is said and done, usually more is said than done."  And at times it does seem as if Obama is too much the celebrity whose greatest gift is looking great, being charismatic and delivering sparkling disquisitions from on high - nothing but a cult of personality.  However, a cult of personality can go a long way, indeed, and Obama does remind one of a former President who used his gifts as a b-movie actor to the fullest extent.  Presidential speeches do tend to convert into doctrine; commanding words spoken eloquently by a hypnotic and alluring leader can work wonders, speeches can literally change the world.  Just ask the Soviets.

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