with today's Speech, President Obama has put forth his latest effort to remake US relations with the Muslim world. Once again, Obama's weapon of choice is the spoken word. While this has been very effective in the USA since there is a subservient media that follows his lead in discussing essentially every issue, this will not be the case in the Middle East. One can only imagine the commentary that goes along with Obama's speech. Indeed, who knows how his words will be translated for a population that does not, in general, speak English. Will someone on Al Jazeera disclose that he got a tingle in his leg when Obam spoke? Not likely! Will there be stories in the media about how stylish Michelle is? Again, not likely unless she starts wearing a Dior Burkha. The truth is that most people in the Muslim world have had years of hearing lies spout from their radios and tvs. Many of those lies were about how evil the Americans were. After all, how many civilian casualties were staged by the Taliban in Afghanistan for the express purpose of claiming that the American troops were murders? How many times have these people been told that the US troops in Iraq were killing women and children? In short, I doubt that the speech will have much impact. I do, however, give Obama credit for trying.
Just remember this -- if George Bush gave the same speech two years ago (except the part where Obama goes on about his Muslim heritage), the talking heads on US tv would have mocked him as an idiot for ever thinking that a mere speech could make a difference. It will be fun to listen to the endless praise of Obama's speech that surely will be forthcoming in the next few days.
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