Middle East Reactions To Obama’s Cairo Speech

“live blogging of reading the speech”  (ie, typos galore!)

acknowledgment of location: at the intersection between tradition and learning (nod to the days of advanced thinking, mathematics, etc.)

acknowledgment of hospitality:  ancient, much honored practice of Islam

immediate placement of current situation brought on by centuries of interaction (ie, subtext and history! no denial or ignoring its existence!  lol)

acknowledgement of discrimination (ie, tide of history and displacement (not physical displacement, but displacement none-the-less)

acknowledgment of exploitation…  (see above, these are issues he has ‘authority’ to talk about given his background and upbringing) (he is aligned, in other words)

so far, so good, in fact, excellent pared-down to-the-point intro.  let’s see where he goes with details.

cooperation and non-exclusivity… again, good.  acknowledgment that we are at the very beginning of a time of open communication.  just the beginning, no where near the middle or end.  personally, i like that emphasis very much because I think we only get to where we might go with one another by traveling the distance.  noting we’re only at the barest beginning is realistic, to say the least.

“common ground”     “common sense, common ground” (or vice versa, can’t remember , was a tag line in the 2004 campaign.  it went on to become a website started by old cohorts of mine, not sure if it’s still around.)  anyway, partial to the theme.  (actually, the site still exists.  http://www.commongroundcommons…  I never did join!)

okay, back to the topic.

“As the Holy Quran tells us, Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.”

Out-of-the park, as they say.

again, out of the park:  “As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and at the fall of dusk.”  all the more powerful because it is a true statement.  so, he’s doing the connection thing better than any

one anywhere could have possibly done.   fascinating.

back to the heyday of islam’s contributions to the world community of learning, common humanity (almost expect to mention how it is the fastest growing religion today)

ohhh, don’t like the use of the pronoun “they.”   he could have easily gotten around that by starting out, “Muslims have fought in our wars, served in our government, stood for civil rights,…”  etc.  bad form, Obama!    ouch!

back to himself.. “I have known Islam on three continents”  okay, that’s overkill, Obama.  we get it.  you’re worldy.

getting bored now.   America is great, yada yada.  yeah, maybe our ideals are, but our practice of our ideals?  come on.   the less said, the better!

oh shit, there are six more pages to read?!!!

define “combat brigades” please.   otherwise, only slightly mollified that there is a timeline.  actually, don’t care for the timeline at all.  unless of course, there is some major change in how we actually ‘occupy’ Iraq.  (long previous discussion, nevermind)

Too weak on the “in some cases, it (9/11 fear and anger) let us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals.”   way, way too weak.   blown chance.

at least he mentions torture, if only, as others have said, by stating it is now prohibited.   I don’t call that acknowledgment, but then I’m a hard ass when it comes to stuff like that.

Now to Israel and Palestine (which doesn’t exist, of course)

he was too, i don’t know, unspecific talking about I/P.  he could have gone into detail.  the outlines are already well-known.  as Pepe says, the 1967 border?  not discussed.

not having a good reaction to any American talking about democracy.  interesting reaction, eh?   (we tossed that pooch out into the water on a broken surfboard and it done sank to the bottom of the ocean.  too negative?)

maybe he’ll save details for the religious freedom part of the speech.  (sigh.  really started well, though!)