President Obama’s long-awaited speech (full text of which is here) to “the Muslim world” (in quotes because the term itself may further the false premise of a monolithic reality) contained any number of things which troubled me. They trouble me as an American, as a supporter of peace in the Middle East, as a supporter of Israel, and even as a Jew.
The President’s remarks were filled with partial truths which often idealized the history of Islam and consistently avoided many of the real challenges which the world faces today. Speaking of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, Mr. Obama correctly identified the institution as one with a thousand-year track record of commitment to learning, but avoided the fact that its religious policies make Bob Jones University seem liberal. He quoted the Quran’s dictum that we “be conscious of God and always speak the truth” and received applause for doing so, but failed to acknowledge how that very teaching is often used by the extremists he reviled.
President Obama spoke of Islam’s historic commitment to religious tolerance and racial equality, but did not address the fact that they were practiced only when Muslims were in power and that while racial equality existed, religious equality did not. He insisted that Islam was not part of the problem in combating religious extremism, but an important part of promoting peace. Clearly, it is both.
And none of this even addresses the President’s unfortunate comparison of contemporary Israelis and Palestinians with black slaves in America and their white owners, or his unwillingness to mention that the biggest issue related to violence by Muslims is their murder of other Muslims, which far exceeds the amount of either Jewish or Christian blood which they shed. Why must all people care about that? Because they are people and they are dying. That is the first and most important reason. And secondly, because when people are murdering their own brothers and sisters, it’s hard to imagine them making peace with their cousins.
Yet with all of that concern, I remind myself that this speech was not for me, not designed to please my ears or address my concerns.

It was addressed to the Muslim world and it was brilliant. Call it great statesmanship, or call it a wonderful expression of the biblical concept (Genesis 21) of “reaching someone where they are”, but President Obama’s speech in Cairo was spot on.
He put the possibility of making things better ahead of self-satisfied rhetoric. It is precisely what needed to be done and he did it in a way that stretched his audience and evoked their support at a critical moment in both global and human affairs.
President Obama engaged his audience where they are, taking seriously the religious/historic/political/cultural narrative which animates their lives instead of the one which animates that of many others, including me. He used a version of the story of Islam and its current encounter with the non-Muslim world that was recognizable and understandable to Muslims. And he used that telling of the story in way that challenged those who tell it, to live more fully in its light.
Rather than force a dichotomous choice, the President pointed to the possibility of a common destiny. And because of that, he found himself before an audience in Cairo that applauded the need to recognize Israel, address the challenge of Iran, practice greater degrees of religious and political freedom, and empower all people, include women, to attain greater educational and financial achievement. If that isn’t historic, what is?
Ultimately, the President’s remarks put being productive ahead of what some of us call being right, and that is the path to peace and reconciliation every time.