THE SPEECH - AT 7:57 A.M. ET:  President Obama has now delivered the most anticipated speech of his presidency - the outreach address to the Muslim world.  Available soon on DVD and CD.

First reaction:  Nothing unusual, but well delivered and stated.

One of the problems with Barack Obama's speeches is that they tend to be all style and little substance.  This was no exception.  (By contrast, one of the poorest speakers of the modern presidency, Dwight Eisenhower, gave speeches that were filled with substance.) Obama said nothing that he hasn't said before:  The Muslim world and the West have misconceptions about each other.  They should forge alliances.  The Muslims are entitled to democracy and women's rights.  America, as it reaches out to Muslims, will continue to fight Islamic extremism.

Highly anticipated was the president's comments on the Arab-Israeli conflict.  He reaffirmed our commitment to Israel, put it in a historic and religious context, but severely criticized Israeli settlements.  He said the Palestinians needed a state, but totally whitewashed the Palestinian record of the last 60 years, including flirtations with fascism.  Okay, he was speaking to Muslims, and maybe this is the best we would get.

There were two discordant notes:  First, Mr. Obama suggested once again that the Iraq War was a mistake, which will make our wounded veterans and the parents of dead soldiers feel just great.  Unnecessary.  He was speaking in Egypt, a dictatorship, and should have at least noted that a democracy has been created in Iraq.  He did say Iraq was better off without Saddam, but the reference was anemic.

Second, in the worst gaffe of the speech, he seemed to compare the plight of the Palestinians to the history of American blacks, and argued that the Pals should resist nonviolently.  This is a ridiculous comparison, and the president should be criticized for it.  The worst oppressors of Palestinians are their own leaders.  American blacks were not kept in bondage by Martin Luther King Jr.

But, on balance, it wasn't a bad speech.  What it lacked, of course, was new proposals or a sense of imagination.  This is an area of great vulnerability for Obama, the sense that while his oratory soars, his ideas sink. 

Like his speech on race during the campaign, this will be forgotten quickly. 

Text of the speech is here.

June 4, 2009