I think Obama's speech in Cairo was one of his best, and definetely his best speech he gave abroad.
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. If he were running for president of the Middle East, and the Middle East were populated by Americans and covered by American media, he'd win. But the Middle East is populated by people who hate each other, often for irrational reasons. I don't think the president gave much thought to how his speech would be interpreted by the listeners:
The headline in Palestinians' heads was: "Obama Blames Israel." Their leaders think Obama gave them a new reason not to be serious about peace: No talks until Israel dismantles the settlements (although Obama didn't say that). That'll hold them for another eight years, when they'll have to find another reason not to get serious about peace. But they know that time is on their side...
The Muslim fanatics heard the same message. They're now waiting for the next settlement to be established so they can launch another jihad, expecting that the rest of the world will side with them because Obama said Israel shouldn't build any more settlements. His pleas for Islam to establish democracy, respect women's rights, tolerate dissent, etc., went right past them. Besides, why should they change anything when Obama didn't say boo to Mubarek, who's been a dictator for 29 years and who is suppressing their beloved Muslim Brotherhood?
Israeli hard-liners are shrugging: "Oh, sure. Bush told us it'd be good to give Gaza to the Palestinian Authority as a 'peace gesture.' And he though holding a free election there would be a way to 'incubate democracy.' We removed 8,000 Jewish settlers so the Palestinians could have 'democracy.' We got 7,000 rockets as our reward. 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...' "
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. It was a time for a dramatic breakthrough, not for platitudes.
