CAIRO — He came with goodwill and pretty sentences, but the question kept echoing: Were they enough?
President Obama's much-anticipated speech Thursday to the Muslim world sought to dissolve the mistrust between Islam and the West by highlighting his personal appeal as he called for an end to intolerance and violence and a move toward a shared future. It was a carefully textured blend of history, the president's experience with Islam and the need to quell religious extremism.
The 55-minute address at Cairo University was short on policy details. What it lacked in PowerPoint specificity, the speech made up for by linking Obama's story -- the Christian son of an African Muslim father -- with his administration's goals of ending the Arab-Israeli crisis, sitting with Iran at the negotiating table and calling on Muslims to reject the fanatical voices of Osama bin Laden and others.
Few world leaders today can match Obama's eloquence and charisma, and it was clear that the president wanted the world's 1.5 billion Muslims to see America through the prism of his enormously popular image. The words were a start, but the question here remains: Is Obama the face of genuine change in U.S. foreign policy or will he merely offer a sparkle of promise before he is overwhelmed by troubles from the bombed alleys of the Gaza Strip to the mountains of Afghanistan?
The address did not answer that; it didn't provide enough concrete solutions to wipe away doubt. It did suggest, however, that the president is a conciliator, not a warrior, and that America, especially in Iraq, had made mistakes. Saving face is a cherished Arab virtue, and a man who can keep face while listing his mistakes is respected.
Obama, with an eye to how his remarks would play among conservatives in Washington, emphasized that the United States would "relentlessly confront" extremists and urged Muslims to tame the violent minority and set aside the "crude stereotype" of America.
The president was attempting to insinuate himself into the larger debate within Islam -- not among militants, who won't be swayed by an appeal from an American president, but between mainstream conservative and moderate Muslim voices looking to keep their faith but also engage the secular West.
"No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point," Obama said. "There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other, to learn from each other, to respect one another and to seek common ground."
