Obama scores again, but the game is just starting
Obama’s speech in Turkey’s Parliament has gotten heavy coverage and rave reviews across the Arab political spectrum. Even influential newspapers and personalities who are usually quite critical of American foreign policy have expressed frank admiration. Despite the disarray in the public diplomacy bureaucracy (where there is still no nominee for the Under-Secretary of State), I ...
Obama's speech in Turkey's Parliament has gotten heavy coverage and rave reviews across the Arab political spectrum. Even influential newspapers and personalities who are usually quite critical of American foreign policy have expressed frank admiration. Despite the disarray in the public diplomacy bureaucracy (where there is still no nominee for the Under-Secretary of State), I would say that Obama has already succeeded at the initial public diplomacy phase of his effort to transform America's relations with the Muslim world. And he's not done -- I'm fairly sure that despite the fact that he has lived up to his promise to give a major address from a Muslim capital, this was not even "the" speech to the Muslim world that he promised during his campaign. But now will come the real challenge: transforming the words into deeds and delivering on the promise.
Several Arab columnists noted with amazement that Obama visited a Muslim country before he visited Israel --- which they are taking as a potentially politically costly, and therefore more credible, signal of the importance he places on reaching out to the Muslim world. And not just any Muslim country -- as a number of Arab commentators note, Turkey is particularly popular right now because of Erdogan's outburst against Shimon Peres in Davos and his outspoken support for Gaza, along with Turkey's good relations with Syria, Hamas, and others across the great Arab political divide. If there is another speech to come, as I believe there is, it will be interesting to see how that choice balances the Turkey gambit.
In terms of content, there was widespread enthusiasm for Obama's declaration that America was not at war with Islam -- a statement which Bush made as well, but with less credibility and clarity. More important was Obama's explicit refusal to reduce America's relations with the Muslim world to the confrontation with al-Qaeda, and his respectful and personal approach to the Islamic world. I thought that his closing remarks on America and the Islamic world were pitch-perfect:
Obama’s speech in Turkey’s Parliament has gotten heavy coverage and rave reviews across the Arab political spectrum. Even