Barack Obama's Cairo Speech

I commend Barack Obama for giving the speech in Cairo, Egypt. You can watch it in full here and read the entire text here. I don't agree with everything he said but at least he has put his cards on the table. This clearly was a much more friendly speech than would have been given by George Bush. The question is, will Obama's approach actually do anything? Here are some reactions hand picked by the BBC.

Now that Obama has shown his cards, here are some questions I have:

• What will governments throughout the so-called Muslim world do in response?
• According to the Left, harmony with America on the "Arab street" should now result. Will it?
  
• Will the rights of Muslim women be greatly strengthened? Even one little bit?
  
• Will citizens be given similar human rights to those we in the West have?
  
• If none of these things occur can we then agree that Obama's approach was naive?

I'll also be most interested to see the reaction from Israel. As I've long said, I believe the Israel-Palestinian situation cannot be resolved because only one side wants peace. Furthermore, I firmly believe that certain dark forces throughout the Muslim world want the Palestinian people to keep on suffering in their squalid conditions because if that were ever to end, it would not suit their political objectives.

More than anyone, I do hope that things improve for the billions of Muslims around the world. But I think it has a lot more to do with them than anything any American President can hope to do.

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Update: Here's a humorous take on Obama's speeches of late.

Barack Obama = Chance the Gardener ?

I heard a fascinating interview today where the guests compared the speeches of Barack Obama to those of Chance the Gardener, the famous character in the 1979 film, Being There. Here's the trailer:


First, no one is attacking Obama's intelligence. Rather, they're questioning the substance of Obama's speeches and wondering if there's a whole lot more meaning attached to his words by those listening than anything to do with the words themselves. You can listen to the interview yourself by clicking here (@33:45).

Sarah Palin's First Speech to Her Nation

These 2 videos are an abridged portion of the first national speech given by Vice-Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin:


You can also watch the full version here.

Barack Obama's Victory Speech

Here's the superb victory speech made by Barack Obama after his decisive victory in Iowa:

He is indeed an excellent communicator and this very positive speech may very well be the moment cited by historians where Hillary Clinton's political hopes ended.

But on the assumption that he becomes the Democrat nominee, I wonder how the content of his speech will be viewed by most Americans? It might just take a few economists to calculate what tax increase people will have to pay to end his chances of becoming president. I am not saying that health care shouldn't be available to everyone but generally people are reluctant to increase government services if they know that they will have to pay for it. It's going to be an interesting year!