Obama on Egypt
I'd like to hear what everyone else has to say about the President's remarks this afternoon, but I'll get the conversation started by offering a few thoughts of my own. In brief, his remarks struck me as no better than okay.
Literary merit? Memorable lines or phrases? Zero. In a couple of places, indeed, the writing proved just plain bad. In a single sentence, for example, we had the president speak of bringing "voices to the table"--whatever else you might do with "voices," you don't sit them down at a table--and the "powerful wind at the back of this change," an image so tired and insipid his speechwriters might have slipped it in just to embarrass the man.
As to the substance, the President did a fine job of associating the United States with the democratic aspirations of the Egyptian people. Emphasizing the role of young Egyptians struck me as particularly shrewd. The "new generation," the President said, "uses their own creativity and talent and technology to call for a government that represented their hopes and not their fears...." (Note that the mixed tenses--"uses" is of course in the present tense, "represented" in the past--appear in the transcript. I hope the President simply misspoke. If his writers are responsible, someone should be shown the door.) The young people who used Twitter to help stage this revolution seem to possess a basic openness to modernity--and will, or so we can hope, resist any efforts to drag Egypt into some sort of medieval Islamic past.
But Barack Obama is the President of the United States. Egypt was looking to him for more than a handsome pat on the back. A couple of notes on what he should have said--but didn't:
- A word to the generals. The final step in ousting Mubarak was taken not by the citizens massed in Tahir Square but by military officers meeting behind closed doors. The president should have stated unambiguously that this country would insist on a peaceful, expeditious transfer of power to civilians.
- A new constitution. The President made no mention of the need to draft a new constitution. He could very easily have held up our own as a model. He said nothing.
- A warning to the Muslim Brotherhood. There is simply no doubt--none--that the next battle in Egypt will comprise a struggle between secular forces, struggling to organize, and the Muslim Brotherhood. The President should have stated, utterly unambiguously, that the United States would oppose any effort to capture this revolution for narrow, sectarian purposes. His remarks contained not even a hint of any such warning.
Those are my thoughts.
Yours?
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Comments :
Dec '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
I despair of President Obama ever thinking deeply or long enough to realize that he needs to say the things you pointed out that he should have said. Nor do I believe he has the breadth and depth of foreign policy knowledge (much less the knowledge of our own form of government) to come up with sensible policy prescriptions on his own. Sadly, we've seen in Panetta's and Clapper's testimony to Congress what caliber of advisors surround this President... so I don't expect anyone else in his Administration to provide well-crafted and well-informed advice to him.
Re: Obama on Egypt
You know, my first impression was "hey, this speech isn't all that bad." But your expert analysis has persuaded me that it really was that bad. Maybe, it was just that I was expecting so much worse...I thought he might try to take credit for it all, or something.
Aug '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
I listened to the audio of the video instead of watching it. The thing that struck me is that the President had a tone of not really believing what he was saying. It came across that he was given a script and didn't really care what was in it.
May '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
Every speech is like every other - one long run-on sentence of trite, empty, forgettable drivel. How this gasbag came to be touted as the next coming of Cicero I'll never know.
Obama's main problem with his public speaking is that he has no conviction about anything he says; it's obvious that he's full of it. His material is so calculated to pull the wool over the eyes of the dumb citizens even he doesn't believe it and it shows.
The only time he becomes animated and dynamic in speaking is when he is talking about how wonderful he is or how mendacious his enemies are.
Re: Obama on Egypt
I completely agree with you, Peter. I'd have to sit down and carefully watch it again to come up with a more formal analysis, and I just don't have the patience right now, but my first impression was that he was talking to the wrong audience. This wasn't a freshman congressman's campaign stump speech in an old folks' home in Nebraska, this was an address to the whole anxious, overheated planet, one that is looking to him for inspiration and reassurance. The word that came unbidden to my mind was "Twerp."
Nov '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
Don't listen to the speeches, read them the next day. They are almost always pretentious, waffly, and boring.
Jan '11
Re: Obama on Egypt
Obama repeatedly gave the people the entire credit for the changes thus far-- the people have spoken, the people’s hunger for freedom, etc. But then he stated “above all this transition must bring all of Egypt’s voices to the table.” Really? Isn’t that like welcoming the Muslim’s Brotherhood to be the beneficiary to this people’s uprising? On Sunday the president brushed off Bill O’Reilly’s question about the Muslim Brotherhood. Doesn’t Obama believe that the Muslim Brotherhood’s objective is for Egypt to become an Islamic state?
Dec '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
I made two observations:
1] Mubarak delayed his departure until after the immediate, emergency measures were lifted, that specifically allowed transfers of funds, out of Egypt. Perhaps that's been noted elsewhere, but I had read or heard it.
2] Obama is emphasizing the role of the youth, as are the media. I don't think that is accidental, as it has been emphasized in each of his public statements. In a country with a huge, young, demographic, as Egypt, that makes sense. However, he also emphasized this in inspiring tones at Marquette, yesterday, and I believe he intends to inspire as many young people as he can, across the globe and at home. I didn't get the feeling that he was echoing JFK by asking the youth not what their country could do for them, but what they could do for their country. I don't believe Obama is hapless; I believe he does things with intent.
May '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
Very hard to separate the man from the speech, but if one can do this, the speech ain't too bad--it's pretty good, in fact.
--He did mention a constitution, sorta, saying the constitution and other laws needed to be revised to make the change irreversible.
--He praised the military as a patriotic and responsible caretaker of the state, which was wise.
--He highlighted the distinction between the "moral force of non-violence" and the evil of terrorism as a means of change.
--He had a shout out to entrepeneurism, hoping the youngsters would now chanel their energies in that direction for the betterment of Egypt's economy.
--He found a Bush-esque quote from MLK: "There's something in the soul that cries out for freedom."
On the downside, he threw in a little moral equivalence as he mentioned the "strains between religions" in Egypt, but heck, they all do that.
Overall, and discounting the twerp who delivered it, it was well done. (This now exhausts my magnanimity for 2011.)
Dec '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
Peter -
I'd like to comment on his speech, unfortunately I fell asleep again at the wheel and drove into a ditch. I've found it's more exciting to watch paint dry than have to listen to that blathering ninny. Is it 2012 yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Perhaps that should be the Conservative response if he ever decides to trot out that car-in-the-ditch-anaolgy again.
Edited on Feb 11, 2011 at 3:58pmMay '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
Also: Would it really have been wise to throw down the gaunlet regarding the Brotherhood in a speech like this? A vague reference to the threat of "sectarian hijacking" would have been nice, but to mention them by name, at this early juncture and in this moment of celebration, might have enhanced their street cred, so to speak.
Re: Obama on Egypt
Agreed. But as it was, the speech laid down no marker at all. Imho, anyway.
Oct '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
How is it that Obama missed out on stating the hope of high speed rail for the peoples in this speech ...Missed all else, so why not...
Oct '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
I'm afraid the U.S. is in a pretty poor position to "insist" on anything, and I'm not sure the President should be issuing instructions from a podium in Washington, in any case. Alas, the Idea that Obama could advance a credible warning to our international "partners" evaporated when Iran missed the first of umpteen deadlines he set. Maybe he should hand that job off to Bob Gates, who might actually be able to conduct some smart, low profile, diplomacy. It may have been fortuitous that DoD was hosting Egyptian officers in DC, when the protests began.
Peter Robinson:
I hope the President simply misspoke.
Have you noticed that TOTUS has been deep sixed? I first realized Obama had begun to read his remarks at the Tucson Memorial Service (Bill Daley's influence, perhaps?), and I think it's something of a struggle. I've been reading his speeches ex post facto for a long time, though, and they have always been syntactically incoherent.
Notwithstanding the halting delivery -- and that annoying, now emblematic, downward stress at the end of every sentence -- I thought it was a serviceable effort. I Wordled it, which always strikes me as revealing.
Sep '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
Tweet the Twerp.
Jun '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
If I had written the speech, my focus would have been on the rule of law. Some samples:
* Religious toleration and freedom must be guaranteed by the rule of law.
* The military is reminded that they are the guardians and custodians of the rule of law.
* The Muslim Brotherhood must accept that rule by secular law guarantees their right to believe and practice Islam, and they must extend to other religions the same rights.
Of course, Mr. Obama finds our own Constitution "fundamentally flawed," so support for the rule of law would sound odd coming from his lips. Does "social justice" have any founding documents? Curious minds would like to know.
May '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
When I watch him now, I'm reminded of the SNL sketch during the 1988 campaign. Carvey did his brilliant Elder Bush "wouldn't be prudent, 1000 points of light" shtick, emphasizing the inanity of his speech patterns. The camera turns to Jon Lovitz, playing Dukakis, as he says, "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy."
Seriously...I know we might...but I can't believe we could lose to this flyweight...
Edited on Feb 11, 2011 at 10:41pmRe: Obama on Egypt
Peter, I completely agree with your analysis. One more rhetorical bunt that deserves mention: "the wheel of history turned at a blinding pace". I have no idea what this means, other than that the current speechwriting team is fond of Mad Libs.
Jun '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
Just ignore him, Peter. Better off picking someone competent to follow and comment on what he/she says. Obama is an irrelevant in foreign affairs, either by plan or consequence. He only pops up to comment after events have passed him by to look integral. giving him attention is like rewarding a child's tantrum.
May '10
Re: Obama on Egypt
I think it means Obama never knew what hit him, Egypt-wise.