Obama hit a home run with his Egypt speech. I watched some of it. The speech in Egypt may turn out to be a seminal moment, like Nixon’s visit to China or Sadat’s visit to Israel.
There were plenty of cheers during Obama’s speech. I think he struck the right balance between extending hand of cooperation, while at the same time condemning terrorism. The reaction for his speech was mixed in both Muslim world and in Israel, which tells me that the got the balance just right.
I don’t see his speech leading to the Middle East settlement, that is too much to hope for. However, if that leads to a thaw in relations between USA and Muslim world, that would be a start. It would be a big change from Bush era, when USA and the Muslim world regarded each other with suspicion, mistrust and outright hostility.
I think Obama scored a huge foreign policy success with his speech.
Obama in Egypt reaches out to Muslim world - CNN.com
There were plenty of cheers during Obama’s speech. I think he struck the right balance between extending hand of cooperation, while at the same time condemning terrorism. The reaction for his speech was mixed in both Muslim world and in Israel, which tells me that the got the balance just right.
I don’t see his speech leading to the Middle East settlement, that is too much to hope for. However, if that leads to a thaw in relations between USA and Muslim world, that would be a start. It would be a big change from Bush era, when USA and the Muslim world regarded each other with suspicion, mistrust and outright hostility.
I think Obama scored a huge foreign policy success with his speech.
Obama in Egypt reaches out to Muslim world - CNN.com