Obama’s Cairo speech gives us all hope

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This is a re-write of an article written shortly after Obama’s speech. Given that I wrote it still in awe, I forgot to back it up. When I lost the data of my site this past Friday, I am seeing myself forced to re-write about certain events that are worthy of comment. Obama’s speech in Cairo is one of those, one that is still being discussed, specially today on the Sunday talks.

No doubt, Mr. Obama is the ultimate statesman, a gifted speaker, and he is indeed an American treasure, which we should all be proud of. His speech, peppered with so many touching moments, addressing sore points and wounds, long open and unhealed, no doubt marked a new beginning between the USA and the Islamic world. This jaded New Yorker couldn’t help but feel hopeful that his tone, his words will inspire a new wave of cooperation and goodwill among the majority of people, here in the US and in the Muslim world.

Of course there will always be the plethora of detractors, here and over there, who relish and benefit from war, and profit by incentivizing disdain for our multinational differences. Unfortunately many of these detractors are in leadership positions and will be leading in thought. But president Obama, with his new tone and attitude is taking away one reason these leaders could successfully persuade their followers to go down the path of hate.

Many are saying that Obama shouldn’t be apologizing. But let me address that here, because I believe many of us living in the USA would agree with me. Obama is not going out there, hat in hand, apologizing. What he is doing is changing the tone, from the negative bullyish tone of the former administration, which we all know has caused so much damage to our standing around the world, to one more conciliatory. And he is doing it from a position of strength. Isn’t that what the best statesmen do?

Of course the bullies are going to say that anything that does not mirror their behavior equals apologizing. They see diplomacy as a weakness. They believe in settling things with fists, threats and brawn. They are the very people who are prone to use their power for selfish, short-sighted ends, instead of putting it to the service of the people who elected them. I’m not only talking about those here, but also the bullies over there.

Obama comes across as someone who doesn’t forget the people who elected him. His tone and diplomacy are daring and inspiring. So, when we hear speeches of hate, thinly disguised in the words of the extremist leaders (again, here and over there), we can think of Obama’s words and know we have a committed world leader who has the best of intentions in his decisions. He sounded sincere, worldly, aware of our differences and our commonalities, and ready to lead us into a more desirable direction, regardless of our difference in views and beliefs.

Though normally I’m very skeptical of speeches, even of Obama’s past speeches, I was inspired by this one, and happy to feel that I was part of history, having watched it live. No doubt his words in Cairo will likely mark the beginning of new hope for not just the USA, but others out there whose voices and sentiment were lost in the sounds of war and greed.

Thank you Mr. Obama. You represent us well, at least the majority of us here, regardless of cultural backgrounds. You are a true leader of the new century, a peacemaker.