David Axelrod: A New Beginning - As a Senior Advisor to the President, I'm here in Cairo, Egypt where I watched President Obama deliver an unprecedented speech calling for a new beginning for the United States and Muslim communities around the world.
We all know that there has been tension between the United States and some Muslim communities. But, as the President said this morning, if all sides face the sources of tension squarely and focus on mutual interests, we can find a new way forward.
The President outlined some big goals for this new beginning in his speech -- including disrupting, dismantling, and defeating violent extremism. It was a historic speech.
Majority-Muslim countries around the world are filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives, just as in America. Indeed, part of what makes America great is having nearly seven million Muslim Americans living here today and enriching our culture and communities.
We can extend that kind of relationship abroad. It won't always be easy, but if we make an effort to bridge our differences rather than resigning ourselves to animosity, we can move toward a more peaceful world over time.
Gary Bauer: The Cairo Deception - It was tough to begin this day by watching President Obama destroy history, undermine Israel and bow, this time rhetorically, to Islam during his speech at Cairo University. Below are some examples and my reactions.
OBAMA: “…America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.”
REACTION: Tolerance? Dignity? Islamic countries dominate the list of top human rights violators in the world. Throughout much of the Middle East, Christians live in fear and Jews can’t live at all.
OBAMA: “I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America’s story. …And when the first Muslim American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers – Thomas Jefferson – kept in his personal library.”
REACTION: Nice try, Mr. President. Thomas Jefferson kept a copy of the Koran at least in part because he wanted to understand what part Islam played in motivating the jihadists of his age – the so called Barbary pirates – in America’s first encounter with Islam and the first time we sent troops into combat overseas.
OBAMA: “Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail.”
REACTION: Thank you, President Obama, for that clear statement of cultural and moral relativism that infects so many of our elites and obviously shapes the way you deal with the world. So you want a world order, where no nation or group is elevated over another, where America is to be considered no better than North Korea, Syria, or Iran. All cultures and nations are not equal. Some believe in liberty and the dignity of individuals. Some believe people are cattle to be herded by government. That you don’t understand that your own nation is preferable and better than the thug states of the world is tragic and dangerous. How I long for the days when President Reagan regularly reminded us that we were to be a “shining city upon a hill.”
OBAMA: “On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people – Muslims and Christians – have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than sixty years they have endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead.
REACTION: The president here repeats a central tenet of Palestinian propaganda. Israel did not evict Muslim Palestinians – Arab League nations ordered them to leave. Nearly 20% of Israel today is Muslim. Nowhere does the president mention the Jewish refugees forced to flee to Israel. Nor did he mention that it is Arab Muslim countries that keep Palestinians in refugee camps rather than inviting and integrating them into their own countries.
OBAMA: “All of us have a responsibility to work for the day … when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together.”
REACTION: Don’t miss the significance of this statement. Here Obama is calling for turning Jerusalem, which has always been home for Jews, into an international city under control of who? The U.N.? The E.U.? All religions have access to Jerusalem now, because Israel, unlike its neighbors, is tolerant.
OBAMA: “That is why we are forging service projects in America that bring together Christians, Muslims, and Jews. That is why we welcome efforts like Saudi Arabian King Abdullah’s interfaith dialogue and Turkey’s leadership in the Alliance of Civilizations.”
REACTION: Yet another big wet kiss from the president for King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, a country that will not permit a Bible to be displayed nor allow an infidel to set foot in its “holy” cities.
OBAMA: “Hamas does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have responsibilities. To play a role in fulfilling Palestinian aspirations, and to unify the Palestinian people, Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
REACTION: Here the president extends an olive branch to one of the most bloodthirsty terror groups in the Middle East. The only “aspiration” Hamas is interested in fulfilling is the destruction of Israel and the eviction of the U.S. from the Middle East. And notice when the president says that Hamas must recognize Israel’s right to exist, he very tellingly leaves off the most important phrase “as a Jewish state.” Hamas will never recognize the right of Jews to have one nation.
Tony Perkins: Outreach or Overreach? - Much is being said about President Obama's speech today at Cairo University. Left-leaning pundits have touted the speech in a leading Arab nation as a bold outreach to "the Muslim World." It may be a bold outreach from a political perspective, but it was certainly a bold overreach from a factual and historical perspective.
Quoting from the Koran four times, the President said, "Islam has always been a part of America's story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco...let there be no doubt, Islam is a part of America." Actually, Mr. President, it was Holland. On November 16, 1776, officials at Saint Eustatius in the Dutch West Indies fired "the first salute" to a warship bearing the American flag. The event was the subject of a best-selling history book by Barbara Tuchman, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The President is certainly entitled to his own opinion of America. But, as Ronald Reagan said, he is not entitled to his own facts.
President Obama went on to cite John Adams' words when second president signed the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796. Adams, at the time, said we had "no enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility of Muslims." The only problem was that the Barbary Pirates, then operating out of Tripoli, continued to prey on American shipping. Although he didn't use "micro loans" or new "science and technology" funds, Adams attempted to buy them off and failed. By 1800, nearly one-fifth of the federal budget was consumed in trying to pay off predatory rulers in North Africa. When Thomas Jefferson succeeded Adams in 1801, he dispatched warships and U.S. Marines "to the shores of Tripoli" to fight for American rights. Jefferson was determined not to pay tribute to the Muslim rulers of North Africa and to stop their seizing U.S. merchant ships and selling American seamen into slavery. That effort succeeded.
And yes, Jefferson did own a copy of the Koran as President Obama stated in his speech today. But the reason he read it when he was serving as our ambassador in Paris was to see if it could really be true -- as Arab diplomats were telling him -- that the Koran gave them the right to attack and enslave Americans and all other "infidels." Jefferson concluded from his reading that America must fight--not pay tribute--to protect her citizens.
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