Barack Obama Brings His Campaign Themes to Turkey, Muslim World
By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The main message of President Obama's big line speaking to Turkey's parliament yesterday struck me as being akin to one he pushed during the presidential campaign last summer and fall.
From today's New York Times:
"The United States has been enriched by Muslim-Americans," he said. "Many other Americans have Muslims in their family, or have lived in a Muslim-majority country.
"I know," he said, "because I am one of them."
And then he paused. Throughout his speech, he had moved swiftly from passage to passage, but this time, he waited for the interpreter to catch up. After about five seconds, the applause came.
During the presidential campaign, people found Obama appealing, but in order to close the deal he had to dispel lingering doubts about his connection to the American mainstream. As I wrote after Obama's acceptance speech last August:
Obama needed to place himself squarely within the Middle American identity--show that he is one of us, not a strange other and not beholden to the needs of a special interest (be that race or the broad collection of what Republicans call the Democratic client groups). He made connections between his own family and the kind of every family with whom swing-voting Americans can identify: "Because in the face of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton's Army and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI bill." (Marched in Patton's Army? He makes Patton sound like a Civil War or Revolutionary War general.)
This was the first of several refrains connecting the Obama experience with the American experience, culminating in a direct shot at the GOP's main line of recent attack: "I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me."
While he's obviously not trying to suggest to foreign Muslims that he is one of them, or fits into their continuum of experience, when he reminds them that he has lived in a Muslim country and that his middle name is Hussein, he is making a similar attempt to allay fears. We'll see how it works out.
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Tags: Turkey | Barack Obama | Islam
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Reader Comments
Middle East 'Detente'
Although I do not think President Obama's efforts will have an immediate effect on the way the middle-east views our country, I do think you need to applaud his efforts. We have a long way to go before the Muslim world in general will probably NOT view us as 'The Great Satan'. However, we have to start somewhere.
I read an interesting article which looks at the current situation from a slightly different perspective. The writer objectively views fundamentalist Islamic problems with the US from the angle of investing. He doesn't judge right or wrong, simply what the future holds for investments. You can read the article at: www.spearfinance.com (it is the article entitled - 'The Age of Jihad')
Here is hoping the Presidents continued efforts will bear some fruit over the years to come and to help close the divide between the Islamic world and the U.S.
Turkey in Turkey
Have the Muslims ever condemned publicly what the Muslim terrists do? I haven't seen any.
While campaigning Obama said Turkey committed genocide against the Armenians. He sure avoided saying anything when on their soil. He didn't dare upset the Turkish people, get kicked out of their country, and see his adoration ratings plummet!
Turkey and the Muslim World
Hey Larry from California, Turkey is not one of our enemies. They are one of our allies and if you don't understand what diplomacy is about then I'm sure you're a dyed in the wool Republican. Islam is not the enemy it's the fringe who are the problem. Not unlike the evangelist Christians in this country growing adolescents ready to kill for Christ. Ted from Arizona is obviously no brighter and just as bigoted. One of the big enemies put forth by the Republicans in the days before 911 was China but that didn't stop the Republicans from borrowing hundreds of billions to finance the Iraq war from China. And by the way, one of Bush's reasons way after the fact for waging the war in Iraq was to save the Iraquis most of whom are Sunni or Shiite members of Islam from persecution. So as is the case with most GOP, conservatives and christian evangelists your views are very hypocritical. When Bush did it, it was OK when a Democrat extends the olive branch he's giving away our nations security. He's also smart in trying to make peace with these people to build our base of allies. So which is it? Do you even know? Or do you just hate everyone who isn't white and Christian?
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