In France, Obama erases the 'us vs. them' rhetoric
PARIS 鈥� In France, by far the largest Muslim nation in Europe, Karim Emile Bitar watched the speech at his office near the Champs-Elysees.
His verdict? "Excellent.鈥�
President Obama went 鈥渁 long way toward overcoming all the 鈥榰s vs. them鈥� rhetoric of the previous administration,鈥� says Mr. Bitar, a Lebanese-French international relations specialist and president of the KB Consulting Group in Paris.
鈥淢y first reaction is how important it was for Obama to speak of moving past the Muslim nations as 鈥榩roxies,鈥� as they were thought about during the cold war.
鈥淏ut while this may have been public diplomacy at its best, one should remember that due to decades of mistrust, even America鈥檚 best rhetoric won鈥檛 make the Arab world rise to the occasion without consistent concrete initiatives and actions.
鈥淥n the Palestinian front, the language was the right language. Obama needed to mention the large and small humiliations suffered by Palestinians. But he did not clarify how we are going to get an end to settlement activity at a time when the Israeli right-wing is not interested at all in such a program. We don鈥檛 know how the new American approach is going to manage at a time of a new hard-line Israeli government.鈥�
Speech was eagerly anticipated
Hassen Chalghoumi, the imam of the Drancy mosque outside Paris, believes Obama began connecting with the Muslim world early in his speech with the simple religious greeting: 鈥淪alaam Aleikum.鈥�
Mr. Chalghoumi spoke with unmuted excitement about watching the speech in a packed cafe in the St. Denis suburb of Paris 鈥� the heaviest Muslim-population zone in France. The speech was taken with great seriousness, as well as a bit of anxiety, by St. Denis locals, who had hoped that the speech would go well.
For Chalghoumi, who has innovated a controversial Muslim-Jewish dialogue in France, relations between the US and Muslim majority nations have worsened since the first Gulf聽 war. 鈥淩eligious Muslims hate America and the Americans, but today we have seen the first real change 鈥� that the American people who elected this president must want freedom and justice. I don鈥檛 think that will be easy, and the speech won鈥檛 change certain realities overnight. But this showed some will to change.鈥�
The imam says the choice of Egypt for the speech was important. Egypt, he says, is 鈥渁 country that seeks a peaceful solution to the Palestinian conflict, and the best place [Obama] could have chosen. It鈥檚 a strong symbol. He could have made the speech in Washington.鈥�
Although Muslims appreciated Obama鈥檚 greeting in arabic, in the caf茅 thought it might harm Obama in his domestic politics, that Americans might take it the wrong way. 鈥淲hat I told them is that it is ok, that salaam aleikum is also just a normal way of saying 'hi,' or 'hello.' 鈥�
Other reactions around the world
