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[Guardian Unlimited, U.K.]

 

 

L'Express, France

U.S. Republicans Don't Get It: Bush Soiled Use of Term 'Democracy'

 

"U.S. Republicans have responded like frightened virgins, stigmatizing the absence of the term 'democracy' from Obama's speech. This shows a failure to grasp the degree to which since 2003, Iraq has distorted perceptions of the word in the Muslim world. Things have gone so far that the word is now synonymous with being a hypocritical pretext for imperialism."

 

By Philippe Coste*

                               

 

Translated By Sandrine Ageorges

 

June 6, 2009

 

France - L'Express - Original Article (French)

President Obama makes his case in Cairo: U.S. Republicans have been criticizing him for shying away from the word 'democracy' in his speech. In fact, he said it four times ...

 

EGYPTIAN TV: President Obama delivers his long-awaited speech to the Muslim world, June 4, 00:55:45RealVideo

Today's New York Times' editorial on the Cairo speech sums up perfectly the American perception of the event; it is a reflection of the great hope raised over the impact the address may have on the hearts and minds of Muslims:

 

"When President Bush spoke in the months and years after Sept. 11, 2001, we often - chillingly - felt as if we didn't recognize the United States. His vision was of a country racked with fear and bent on vengeance, one that imposed invidious choices on the world and on itself. When we listened to President Obama speak in Cairo on Thursday, we recognized the United States.”  

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

From Dearborn Michigan to Fort Worth Texas, among the cities with the largest Arab and Pakistani-American populations, thousands of American Muslims, sometimes at five o-clock in the morning due to the time difference [Cairo is seven hours ahead of Dearborn], listened to their president in a one hour speech, shoot down the duel stereotypes of American insularity and alleged intolerance.

 

In substance, his words won't surprise the well-educated, but it was good that for the first time, America and its Muslim citizens heard their president extol the influence of Islam on the European renaissance, talk of the invention of the compass and mathematics by Arabs, recall its poetry, music and architecture - and its historic tolerance for other religions.

 

A teacher friend in France told me with astonishment on his face, of the evident and moving pride of his North African students, after he took two minutes to discuss the first Arab scientists and mathematicians. I don't know if the French press cared to do so this time, but the Los Angeles Times sent a correspondent to the Paris suburbs to assess the impact of the speech. There was the same emotion and pride.

 

To be frank, U.S. Republicans have responded like frightened virgins, stigmatizing the absence of the term “democracy” from Obama's speech. This shows a failure to grasp the degree to which since 2003, Iraq has distorted perceptions of the word in the Muslim world. Things have gone so far that the word is now synonymous with being a hypocritical pretext for imperialism.

 

After eluding that obstacle and delivering a firm reminder of America's alliance with Israel along with an equally firm rebuff of the Jewish settlements, Obama simply returned to the heart of the problem: an Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a two-state solution that Bush had long refused to grapple with, preferring the brutal recourse of pacifying the region based on the virtuous example of his new Iraq.

 

Obama is more realistic, and he knew to portray his own country in a way that Americans can at least recognize.

 

[Guardian Unlimited, U.K., from February 2005]

 

*Philippe Cost: Born in 1959, Bachelor in Law from Sciences Po Paris, I lived in Bogota, Colombia, for two years before joining L'Express in 1984. Chosen as L'Express correspondent in the United States in 1991, I live on the Upper West side of Manhattan and write as much about politics as about society, the economy and American culture.

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

Al Madina, Saudi Arabia: With Obama, a 'New Beginning'

L'Orient Le Jour, Lebanon: 'Hussein' is for Bold

Die Welt, Germany: Can the Words of Obama Begin to Change the World?

Liberation, France: Obama: Speaker of Verities

The Nation, Pakistan: Obama Must Make Real His Belief in Koranic Principles

Amal Al Ummah, Egypt: Prince Obama and His Muslim Cinderella

Amal Al Ummah, Egypt: If America Can Change, Why Not Egypt?

Al Araby, Egypt: Five U.S. Presidencies is Too Long for Mubarak

Kuwait Times, Kuwait: For an Obama on the Make, Egypt is the Wise Choice

Alhayat Aljadeeda, Palestine: As Palestinians Await Obama's Speech, We Must Unify

Amal Al Ummah, Egypt: Don't Be Fooled By Obama's Egypt Speech

Amal Al Ummah, Egypt: Egypt's Comments on Israeli Nukes a Betrayal of Muslims

Al-Arab al-Yawm, Jordan: World Must Not Fall for Obama PR Onslaught

Al Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Obama: A Humble Leader Worthy of His Great Nation

Al Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Obama Interview with Al-Arabiya Cause for Arab Shame

Le Quotidien d'Oran, Algeria Arab Leaders Prefer to 'Listen to Obama's Fables'

Al Watan, Oman: When 'Hussein' is the Most Beautiful Word

L'Orient Le Jour, Lebanon: Stars, Stripes and the Muslim Crescent

L'Orient Le Jour, Lebanon: Arab Leaders Should Heed Obama's Words

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US June 7, 02:36am]