"We must say openly the things we hold in our hearts and that too often are said only behind closed doors."

Posted June 4, 2009

I slept soundly through the 3am alarm I set so that I could catch Obama's speech live from Cairo. It would have been worth getting up for. Its empathy, intelligence, directness, and unusual rhetoric assure that this speech will survive along with his Philadelphia discourse on race, his Notre Dame address, his talks on the economy and international security, and one or two others as very impressive efforts to reframe destructive, highly charged discussions. These speeches reflect a deep understanding of both the American mood and the global situation. They are impressive, important, and worth study. Obama really is our Reagan.

At one level of course, all a US President named Barack Hussein Obama had to do to succeed in Cairo was to show up. Dark skin, an Islamic middle name, a nominally Muslim father, and a boyhood spent partially in Indonesia keep lesser men from the Presidency — but these are nontrivial assets in the Islamic world.

Obama is plainly convinced that many of the private opinions held by leaders in the Middle East are at odds with their public views. Privately, everyone agrees on a two state solution, fears a nuclear Iraq, and sees the benefit of women's education. Democracy, women's equality, Israel's right to exist, the existence of the holocaust, religious tolerance, the rule of law, are all far more acceptable in private conversation than in public. Obama's speech, at one level, tries to take the covers off and make these private agreements public. He is outing Islamic liberalism with a bit of a tough uncle approach. It is a smart idea.

At another level, no speech matters much. Israelis are not going to stop building settlements and Hamas is not going to stop attacks on civilians because of a speech, even a very good one. People who are bitter and in many cases ignorant do not become compassionate and informed overnight.

Critics quickly denounced the talk as too tough or not tough enough, which misses the point. A president wields a small number of blunt, powerful tools and global speeches are among them. They are designed less to change minds (speeches don't often do that) than to lay groundwork and create opportunities for diplomatic openings that cannot always be scripted or even known in advance. A speech like this also creates expectations of follow-through and Obama got expectations up very high. Fine.

The speech was also aimed at American audiences. Egyptians little know or care that Morocco was the first country to recognize the USA, that 7 million Muslim-Americans earn a bit more than average in the US, or that a Congressman recently took his oath on Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Koran. These and other gems were inserted for domestic consumption and one can only hope that they will be consumed.

I am proud to see this President represent our country with intelligence, toughness, and compassion in a part of the world that has done little to credit itself during the past century and frequently wallows in victimization. It is a fine speech — check it out below or read a transcript here.