Just Spread Your Cheeks Obama, They’ll Get the Message

Obama to Give Speech in Islamic Capital?

“Barack Obama is toying with the idea of making a speech from an Islamic capital within his first 100 days in office. The scuttlebutt is all about finding the right one. (The consensus is Cairo–which is a terrible idea. An Obama speech there would be read as a shameful acceptance of Mubarak’s oppressive rule.) But my question is: what would he say?

The global problems generating from within the Muslim world today are so odious and so obviously self-inflicted that any honest speech on the matter would offend and enrage Muslims the world over. At the same time, because of these very problems, a softball speech about Islam’s current role in global affairs would look like cowardly capitulation. If Obama splits the difference and mixes lukewarm praise with lukewarm condemnation, the stunt will be seen rightly as meaningless.

Obama gives great speeches, and this has encouraged an unwarranted faith in the utility of the medium. No matter how dazzling, oratory is the least effective weapon in the counterterrorism arsenal. If anything, a foreign policy speech aimed at resolving the conflict between the West and radical Islam would give enemies hope that the U.S. is shifting to a less proactive stance, and returning to the more symbolic approach of the pre-Bush days.” Continue reading….

Really. The “symbolic approach of the pre-Bush days“? When Clinton couldn’t be bothered with bin Laden, symbolized by cigars and blow jobs? The most harm that will befall jihadists during the Obama years will be the occasional malfunctioning suicide bomber. Unless they are subjected to too many of his speeches. That could prove terminal.

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