Now that I've had a chance to sleep on it, I want to respond to Obama's speech. There was a lot of hullabaloo about what wasn't in the speech--but in a speech addressing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the most populous Arab country moving towards democratic rule for the first time in its history, and women's rights in the Middle East, there was enough for the President to talk about.
My initial reaction is that the speech was well-crafted and it highlighted several important issues facing the Middle East and North Africa. That said, I was disappointed by how much of the speech was focused on Israel and Palestine. This is an issue which is so immensely complicated and burdened with decades of resentment and hate that it overshadows the events of the Arab Spring. Without question, the issue of Palestinian sovereignty and Israeli security deserves the attention of diligent, patient, and earnest policy makers. In the wider context, the conflict is relevant in that autocratic regimes across the region use Israel as a a scapegoat in lieu of addressing the serious needs of their people. There is also the issue of the Palestinian populations in neighboring countries; Syria and Lebanon each have around 400,000 Palestinians and almost three million in Jordan. In what was heralded as a speech on the Arab Spring, this speech shifted to a prelude to Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu's impending visit.
Also, there was a lot of grousing on Twitter about the omission of Saudi Arabia. I was surprised that Bahrain was mentioned, as well as using the term "occupation" when referring to Israel. But calling out Saudi Arabia would really be going against the grain of the relationship between the kingdom and the United States. It is, undoubtedly, disheartening that there is seems to be such little pressure exerted by the U.S. in addressing issues like prohibiting women from driving, arresting Filipino migrant workers for holding secret Catholic services, and supporting Orwellian surveillance that ensures that unmarried people walk separately from to each other. With everything else that is going on, these issues are better left to closed-door discussions.
Obama did an admirable job of personalizing the frustration of individuals like Mohamed Bouazizi who set the wave of revolution in motion after setting himself on fire last December. Bouazizi was college-educated and he eked out a meager living selling fruit. His frustration with police harassment and his unfulfilled aspirations culminated in his now well-known suicide. Obama drew attention to the countries in the Middle East that have been free from colonial rule for half a century, but their citizens have been denied any say in their government and their access to their economies has been similarly restricted. With so much emphasis on the individuals and their lack of personal options, I would like to have seen more specific information about how the United States is going to assist the average person in the Middle East instead of pouring resources into sieve-like governments. What about strengthening civic institutions and fighting corruption? Perhaps the biggest obstacle to any American program in the Middle East is the deep mistrust of American intentions, so how is this deep rooted suspicion to be alleviated? Obama also mentioned American misgivings about the Muslim world--what can be done to build trust?
All in all, a nice speech, but what truly could have been a milestone policy declaration left a tinge of disappointment in that there were not more specifics about how America's economic might, its spirit of innovation, and its unparalleled universities could be of service to people who have only known discontent, fear, and frustration.
Full text of the speech.
Here is a video of the speech in its entirety:
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