What was missing from Obama’s speech
The speech, which you can read here, was missing a few things:
1. The word TERRORIST. “Violent extremism” doesn’t happen on its own. It’s done by terrorists.
2. Details on closing Gitmo “by early next year.” Surely Pres. Obama realizes that it’s not enough to say “I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year.” Where will those terrorists be sent? What will be the international reaction?
3. A firm position on women’s rights. As Peter Ladou said regarding the tepid language on this issue:
Is that a joke?With women being stoned, raped, abused, battered, mutilated, and slaughtered on a daily basis across the globe, violence that is so often perpetrated in the name of religion, the most our president can speak about is protecting their right to wear the hijab? I would have been much more heartened if the preponderance of the speech had been about how in the 21st century, we CANNOT tolerate the pervasive abuse of our mothers and sisters and daughters.
Most troubling of all, the speech lacked
4. An unequivocal, firm stance on democracy: A “commitment to governments that reflect the will of the people” is not enough. Tyrants since the dawn of history have been summoning the masses to demonstrate their regimes “reflect the will of the people.”
Additionally, the statement, “America does not presume to know what is best for everyone” is equivocating on a moral point. America, from its birth, has been a champion of democracy, and should remain stalwart in its position.
Tags: Fausta's blog, women's rights
June 4th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
[...] reactions: Andy McCarthy: Koranic text Obama left out Andrew Bolt: Islam, I am your savior! Fausta: What was missing from the speech David P. Goldman: Why Couldn’t Obama’s writers find a peace quote from the Koran? Abe [...]
June 4th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
if I am terrified of obama’s headlong rush into marxism and the theft of my freedoms does that make obama a terrorist?
June 4th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Obama also didn’t do anything for the gays in the Middle East. he opposes gay marriage and he went to the place where gays are teated worst of all and said nothing
June 4th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Some how I just can’t picture al Qaeda members who were chased out of Saudi Arabia, then the Sudan and then Afghanistan and in all liklihood Pakistan, listening with anticipation to the President. And afterwards discussing how much better he felt about the West because they felt validated and had not been insulted with hurtful words. Then proceeding down from their cave throwing away their AK-47s and RPGs and promising to set up schools and hospitals for all the boys and girls.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
[...] Fausta’s Blog [...]
June 4th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
[...] wonders at what was left out of the speech. I’ll tell ya – any type of firm commitment to anything not related to [...]
June 5th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Dear Fausta,
He has forgotten another issue, as many people conveniently do,: slavery.
In many Muslim countries (SA, Emirates) it is still common practice and, as strange as it might sound to our ears, many a caravan of slaves crosses the Sahara and Sudan’s desert, directed to dows that will ship their sad cargo to the gulf.
But perhaps Obama is more interested in blaming confederate states…
All the best,
Marlow
June 5th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Fausta, excellent post my dear friend. Obama condemned women in Islamic lands by focusing on “rights” and that we’ve gone to court to protect Islamic women’s right to wear the hajib. He could have focused on the shameful acts of “terror” such as stoning, clitoralectomies, or the act of pushing young lady students back into a burning dorm because they weren’t fully dressed to flee a fire in Saudi Arabia resulting in multiple deaths. He totally failed to speak truth to power.
June 5th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
[...] Fausta: What was missing? [...]
June 7th, 2009 at 10:06 am
[...] enough that “terrorists” were not mentioned in the speech; there’s plenty to worry about in what was [...]
June 9th, 2009 at 10:42 am
[...] post: What was missing from Obama’s speech part [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 1:11 am
Good points. I agree and i think most intelligent people will.
June 21st, 2009 at 3:38 pm
[...] Fausta’s blog dealt with some of what was missing from the speech: 1. The word TERRORIST. “Violent extremism” doesn’t happen on its own. It’s done by terrorists. [...]