Obama gave a great American campaign speech, full of good thoughts about virtue, fairness, democracy, sweet reason--the kind of stuff most Americans and their media like.
I don't think that his speech was aimed at American voters. Well, at least not alone. I think the main goal was to start a new chapter in the relations between the US and the Islamic world.
No, he didn't deliberately aim at American voters. But its style was the same as his campaign speeches. People generally continue to do what they think is successful and led to rewards for them. Obama won a smashing victory in the US presidential election, and often it seems to me that he's still on that US campaign trail.
The headline in Palestinians' heads was: "Obama Blames Israel."
That was probably the headline in the hard heads not only in Palestine but everywhere where there are people who only hear what they want to hear. Obama made it very clear that Palestineans must change their way of pursuing their goals.
"Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed. (...) Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel's right to exist."[/quote]
Yes, all true. But people everywhere hear what they want to hear. I think his emphasis might have been clearer if he'd taken into greater account the impression he wanted to leave with people despite that self-centered filtering.
I'm really disappointed that Obama didn't use his considerable prestige, star quality and rhetorical skill to lay out a concrete plan for a comprehensive peace process.
I think that this was neither the time nor the place for a concrete plan. This speech was an attempt to encourage the political leaders in the region to change their politics, to open their minds. A concrete plan might be the next step.
I fervently hope so.
