Some of my favourite excerpts:
"Too many tears have been shed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of the three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra -- (applause) -- as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them, joined in prayer. "
"I recognize it will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will proceed with courage, rectitude, and resolve."
"America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election. But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose."
"I am convinced that our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons. " (I absolutely love this line. More people should realize this.)
"The Holy Koran tells us: "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."
The Talmud tells us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace."
The Holy Bible tells us: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.""Read the whole thing here.
The speech is pretty long, 55 minutes and the transcript spans around three A4 pages. But it's beautiful. And it is a start. It's a good start.
I completely understand the skepticism and the hostility from Gaza and Islamabad. If my house was torn apart and I lost family members in the hands of Americans, I would take this speech as something more of a political ploy.
But I believe in Obama's sincerity, in his willingness to forge a better relation between our wrongly misunderstood religion and the West. As he said; "I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. I know there's been a lot of publicity about this speech, but no single speech can eradicate years of mistrust..."
But he's willing to take the small baby steps. Are we?
3 comments:
i wonder if he writes his own speeches or if he hires a team of writers that he steers.. but i like all of the speeches i've heard from him either way :)
but he's backtracking on everything he promised before he won. He said he'd close down Guantanamo Bay, but he changed his mind. He said he'd get the troops out of Iraq, but he wants to wait another year AND get more US troops into Afghanistan. Other stuff, too.
I dunno... Obama is dangerous, methinks. He's got that whole gimmick on, and he's an excellent orator.
Anyone who wants to stay out of trouble and foster good relationships with the islamic countries would quote the Qur'an.
It's all about tactics.
Ames: Every US pres has at least a team of 10 speech writers haha. He probably put in some ideas tho, he was a lawyer after all
LMK: Being the pres of the United States is pretty tough. To shut down bases, pull out of (stupid) wars, it takes a lot of planning.
So many angles, politically and economically. What are the repercussions of getting out of Guantanamo Bay? Does that mean Cuba gets their own free land? such and such. What happens to Afghans and Iraqis? Do they get jobs, will their economy be growing? America needs to help grow whatever they destroyed, create jobs, create businesses. America made a big boo-boo at the end of the Soviet Union regime by training Mujahideen's to be killers and stopped at that. Obama can't afford to make those mistakes again. He needs to build schools, infrastructure.
You know I always thought that the war in Afghan was a bad call. But I've read a few books from Afghan points of view that suggests otherwise. Obama has to clean up Bush's mess, and I think we're being a little to hard on him, seeing as he's only been in office for six months.
This is all I'm saying; out of all the US pres I think the only one willing to help us out is Obama. Tactical maybe, but that's because he realizes that there is ONE BILLION Muslims around the world pressuring him to do something about the prejudice against our faith.
Personally, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
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