Posted by
Mike Silverman on Thursday, June 04, 2009 2:12:43 PM
This speech Obama gave in Cairo was ill advised. I don't think there was anything he could have said that would appease his critics domestically or abroad. I think the end result is a wash. Those who were critics of Obama before the speech have not changed their minds. Those who loved him, still love him. The segment of Muslims who hated and mistrusted him still hate and mistrust him. The reasons for hatered by radical elements of Islam for western democracies is not going to be appeased or resolved with a speech. It is a religious fanatacism that no words will talk them out of. Only by supporting and promoting and vigorously protecting ( and that may mean military support ) footholds of Democracy in the middle east where Democracy has a chance to bloom will it eventually overtake the radicals and push them into a deeper and deeper corner and deeper and deeper isolation. President Obama carries with him the failed premise that all liberal progressives hold. As an ideology, liberals on the extreme left believe that by the simple goodwill of thier empathy, words, and personality, they can change the world and stop those who hate. This is why contrition is a big part of his approach. Liberals believe in apology as a cure for conflict. It's part of the overall ideology. Unfortuantely , the approach doesn't work. You can no more change the minds of radical elements with a handshake and a hug than you can change any religion or religious practice with a speech. It would have been a far better use of his time to try to convince muslims of the value of a working and productive relationship with Israel and the benefits of commerce and shared technology with them, to promote the reasons why capitalism and free markets are valuable and can change societies for the better, to mention the reasons for the formation of our own country as a breakaway from tyranny and oppression, to show how we defeated a monarch and maybe through example of our struggle in the US to maintain freedom and democracy inspire muslims with a foundational example for overthrowing their own tyrannical leaders. But, unfortunately he didn't choose to discuss that. The news media has been praising Obama's speech to the hilt, glorifying it as comparable to Reagan's speech at the Berlin Wall as he demanded that Gorbachev tear it down. Of course the speeches are not comparable. Obama made no bold demands of the Muslim world but instead praised them with lies about what contributions were made by the Muslim world to mankind. Does it seem to you that Obama had far, far more praise for Islam and the Muslim culture than for his own country and it's core of Christian values? He refused to be pegged as having special symapthies for Islam or Muslims during his campaign, but what are we supposed to think after hearing his toungue-kiss to Muslims?
What passes for televsion news media today is simply not news media. There are no more real reporters. Brian Williams, Kaite Couric, Charles Gibson, etc.. have a record button on their heads, the Obama administration presses it, leaves a message, and then Williams, Coric, etc... plays it back to their dubious audiences. Thats' what the major press outlets have been reduced to, human tape recorders for left leaning politicians to use to advance their liberal agendas.
- Mike Silverman