President Obama came to Cairo with the same message he advocated during his election campaign. It is senseless to expect anything else. Commentators need to recognize that the basic politics, the running of the state and the objectives of foreign policy do not change with different administrations in the US. Only in some particular areas might differences be observed between the Democrats' and the Republicans' management of events.From the very beginning President Obama has been consistent. He has not denied his background or the Muslim elements in his family. He has never been embarrassed about his middle name, Hussein. His openness and integrity make him consistent and trustworthy. He has shown that he does not need to appear different from what he is. He openly declares that he is a Christian, attends and contributes to a church. So his attitude towards other religions is between God and himself. He does not attempt to conceal that he grew up hearing the call to prayer during his childhood spent in other countries, and this multicultural upbringing gives him the comfort and ease to meet with other cultures and religions. He is not one who hates or despises other cultures, races or ethno-religious backgrounds. Being judgmental about Obama's ease at switching between various cultural issues in his Cairo speech, some commentators doubt his sincerity and integrity. This is where they are seriously wrong.
Even if we assumed that what he said in Cairo was because of ulterior political motives and just for the sake of managing the masses, he has in any case given the message that the US is a land where people need not conceal their racial, religious, cultural, and political beliefs and backgrounds. Rather than the staging he was accused of, his presence was a meaningful embodiment of the message that the US is a land of freedom, equality, democracy and opportunity.
What is more, the peaceful majority in the Muslim world has been waiting for this message. Those who failed in the past to deliver a message of peace, cooperation and a just world leadership did wrong. Instead of delivering peace they delivered bombs, bloodshed, hostility and hopelessness to a vast area of the world, not only the Middle East and Afghanistan. President Obama offers hope that people can forgive and forget past mismanagement and bad policies so as not to be engulfed in further discord and destruction.
The message of support for mutual respect, diplomacy, negotiation and cooperation was received very well. The satisfaction shown by Muslim scholars, administrations and the public, in the hall in Cairo and on the streets across the world, along with Obama's own pleasure at seeing the people's contentment, proved that this was an extension of what he said in Turkey. So Obama and his administration have bound themselves with these promises and have also helped the US to regain its world leader status. With such messages and promises, it is certain that neither the US nor Muslim populations will lose out or be harmed, contrary to what some columnists argue. The US, the Democrats and world communities stand to gain from the message of this administration.
The references to dialog, tolerance, and peace, taken from the Talmud rather than the Old Testament, and from the Quran and the prophetic tradition produced empathy among people. Love, mutual respect, trust and peaceful cooperation can work against extremism and exploitation. This is what we have been striving towards for years. What is wrong with this being expressed by a US president? Now the only obstacles are ignorance and the lack of just distribution of resources. The arms, oil, and drug lobbies will no doubt scheme to protect their interests all over the world, so the new US administration should be wary of such groups and the extremists they will utilize. World history is full of examples of the dangers to those who poke a stick into the hives of such interest groups.
Lastly, the remarkable message from the head of a superpower about the injustice of the secular assimilation imposed on observant Muslim women at educational and state institutions and in public spaces cannot be ignored. So the significance President Obama and his administration attach to this human rights and democratic issue, which has become gangrenous in countries like Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria and France, may lead to further peaceful developments in the countries concerned. Such change will transform Muslim attitudes towards the US and Americans, a process in which all would be winners. Many people in our communities have not taken President Obama's message as empty and cynical as some commentators falsely assume. The Obama administration is on the right track. It is to be hoped that the protectionist minority and interest groups in Turkey will grasp this olive branch too.
