obama upcoming speech
Obama in the Desert
Published on Global Security Monitor at http://gsm.c4ads.org
President Obama’s visit to Cairo this upcoming Thursday is one of the most critical Foreign Relations opportunities of this century.
People across the Middle East and throughout the Muslim world have been anxiously awaiting the President’s trip, buzzing in kahawas and private clubs alike; and with good reason. Though, writ large, the American people are generally well liked in the Middle East and North Africa, U.S. policy is uniformly detested. The President’s speech in the most populous state in the Arab world is expected to address this reality and narrate a new United States policy towards the Muslim world. Many anxiously and joyously anticipate a complete reversal of all the Bush-era policies. This expectation, however, is not possible to meet nor is it particularly relevant.
It is true that in public debate, the passion and poetry of speakers has as much effect on the audience as the substance of their arguments. President Obama’s tone and presentation, in addition to the faith that has already been invested in his success, are likely to be honey to the ears of this audience and will certainly shape their perception of his message. But ultimately Barack Obama is not likely to present a major policy shift from the previous administration. America’s foreign policy apparatus is a slow-moving machine, driven far more by geopolitical necessity than the whims of its leadership or even the sentiments of its population. It is the execution and presentation of those policies, not the policies themselves that most often lead to success or failure.
Take, for example, the Bush administration’s two-state approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which was considered a risky leap at the time. As a democracy with a large Sephardic, culturally Middle Eastern, Jewish population, native Palestinians and non-Jewish minority groups, Israel is functionally a Jewish Arab Republic. The rhetorical challenge will be to recognize the multi-cultural aspects of the rare successful democratic state in the region, while protecting its role as a Jewish homeland. The speaker must address the pride and history of the one, while guarding the security and future of the other. If the President succeeds, the symbolic value of the conflict may be reduced for our enemies abroad.
While this symbolism looms large in the region, it is not alone in its impact. There are several other issues he may address including the humiliating use of the easily dominant American military, the humiliation of unmanned drones and collateral damage, the humiliating images of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, the humiliation of searches at ports of entry into the United States, the humiliating secular messages and images bombarding the region. A pattern is evident in this litany and the President must address the emotion, and not just the substance, to take advantage of this opportunity.
President Obama has the unique opportunity, because of who he is, to dramatically enhance the effectiveness of United States Policy in the region. Let us hope that the bureaucracy does not attempt to provide another complex policy recipe which is guaranteed to underwhelm. Rather, we can hope the handlers set a table that will allow the President to satisfy the tastes of his audience.
Center for Advanced Defense Studies, International Affairs
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