The President Wasn't Talking to Us
Like everyone else, we read reams of commentary over the weekend on President Obama's speech in Cairo. There was a lot of really good information from people who thought the President might not have been fully informed. Some - Ralph Peters, Charles Krauthammer, Danielle Pletka, Rush Limbaugh, Victor Davis Hanson, Walid Phares, James Hoagland, Lanny Davis, Barry Rubin, the Washington Post and Jerusalem Post editorial columns, Jonathan Tobin and Christopher Caldwell - eloquently supplied elements of the information "missing" from the speech.
We loved every one of them and encourage you to read them for your own edification, but don't expect to find the White House quoting them. The information wasn't "missing" because the White House/State Department didn't know it, it was missing because that information wasn't important to the objects of the President's interest, and wouldn't further the President's goals.
The President was talking to people who live in countries where, with few exceptions, governments are dictatorial and ruthless, the media is controlled, experience and education are limited (particularly for women), and propaganda is rampant. Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that a great many people in those places believe the President of the United States (regardless of political party) is beholden to the "Jewish Lobby," and Israel and Jews have disproportionate influence in Washington. Many also believe that the United States is a colonial power, created Israel, is "anti-Muslim," and is clumsy and arrogant in its dealings with non-Americans. A great many believe the 9-11 attack was done by the CIA or the Mossad - or didn't happen at all.
Actually, there are people in the United States who believe those things as well.
Whether the President does or does not, it appears to have been among his goals to assert that he is neither beholden to the "Jewish Lobby" nor unduly influenced by Jews or Israel. Playing fast and loose with Israel and the Jewish people, equating the Holocaust with the suffering of Palestinians and throwing down a marker on settlements was simply a way to get them to like him.
And they do. He is no doubt more popular with millions of Muslims than were any of his immediate predecessors. Just as he was more popular with millions of French and Germans after his triumphal European tour and with millions of South Americans after his grinning handshake with Hugo Chavez.
The unanswered question is what impact a President-as-rock-star has on the policies of friends and foes, and on our own policies. The early returns aren't great. Being liked in Europe didn't get the President stimulus money, homes for Gitmo prisoners or more troops for Afghanistan. And the reaction to the President's friendly overtures to Iran, Venezuela and North Korea has been overtly threatening to American interests.
We believe the President's speech and his ensuing popularity will not materially improve American interests - and certainly it damages our interest in ensuring the security of like-minded, democratic countries including, but not limited to, Israel.
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