Obama's Cairo speech: splendid intelligence on the world stage

I both read and watched (most) of President Obama's Cairo speech yesterday and found it, in a word, magnificent. But that discovery came less from any thoroughgoing, rapturous eloquence on Obama's part, in either word-craftsmanship or delivery, than from his plain but vivid determination, vividly expressed, to chaperone a new era -- of the mind.

His inclusive touches of human commonality and transcendent -- yep -- empathy were prominently bookended. He concluded by discreetly referencing the "one rule that lies at the heart of every religion -- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us," which "isn't black or white or brown ... isn't Christian, or Muslim or Jew," but it is "what brought me here today," after having begun his speech with the tactfully targeted overture ...

"As the Holy Koran tells us, 'Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.' That is what I will try to do today -- to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart."

Obama possesses by the truckload those two indispensable qualities of any great salesman: credibility and an unshakable belief in the superior value of his product. These, he positively oozed yesterday. Even his most cynical critics stopped short of denying his absolute faithfulness to the message -- and, although his predecessor possessed a similar but destructive degree of dogged faithfulness, the upside with Obama is that his faith lies, incontrovertibly, I think, in cooperation and understanding and the power of pragmatic thinking, not ideological and theological divisions.

The speech was sturdily compartmented by global topic, but none for either Obama or his broadest audience was more preeminent in concern than that of the seemingly endless Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which, as the American president knows better than anyone, holds a demolishing potential for any Middle East Grand Bargain, and, ultimately and most devastatingly, could unravel any remaining constraints on that region's nuclear proliferation.

Obama means business. His notation of the U.S.-Israeli relationship as "unbreakable" was something that I, at least, found almost perfunctory. Because there are limits, and after only 100+ days in the White House (but years of tracking Israeli intransigence on, for instance, settlements) Obama is already reaching his.

We have listened and talked and listened and talked and waited and waited and nothing has ever changed except heightened degrees of regional, specifically Palestinian, misery. Israel's intractable Prime Minister Netanyahu can, for domestic consumption, avoid public references to a "two-state solution" all he wants, but Obama is pushing his back to the wall. And this time, because an American administration began pushing early enough, Israeli intractability will run out of room, and time.

"The Palestinian people," Obama related with thundering poignancy, "Muslims and Christians, have suffered in pursuit of a homeland ... have endured the pain of dislocation ... [have] wait[ed] in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security ... [and have] endure[d] the daily humiliations -- large and small -- that come with occupation." That final word, about time.

"So," Obama continued, "let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable." Intolerable for them alone? No, intolerable for the United States, too, because his very next word was "America," which, he vowed in immediate proximity, "will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own."

This was no mere rhetoric, no mere, "I'm in Cairo so I'll butter up the Arab and Muslim world." It was, rather, an icy extension of Obama's diplomatically frigid White House encounter with Benjamin Netanyahu, whose fledgling government could, even, soon topple so that his region and the rest of the exhausted world can get on with an honestly brokered and commonsensical peace.

So, some might object, just how can one reconcile that rather confrontational attitude with the contention that Obama's purpose was, in large part, empathetic? And the short answer is, common sense dictates that some of the disagreeable deadwood must first be cleared away.

There is no contradiction -- and the world is swiftly learning that Obama's boyish smile does not betray youthful naivete, nor does his nearly exhibitionist yearning for global understanding betray any traditional willingness to just go along to get along. There are, he knows, some conflicts that must be thoughtfully resolved -- now -- or we'll never dig our way out to a better, more peaceful world.