The Obama Speech in Cairo

Reactions run the gamut on the speech and I guess it depends what each individual was expecting.

My thoughts are that it was a well-crafted speech although a bit too long. The audience didn't not grasp the applause lines except when it was either Obama quoting the Koran, praising Islam or bashing Israel, which is about what I expected.

All in all however, the speech projected weakness. Arabs as a whole and Muslims in particular respect one thing and that is strength. If one is powerful he deserves respect and if not he doesn't. It goes back to their tribal roots and has never left them. Obama came off as weak and he is the leader of the US so we did as well. At least he didn't bow to King Abdullah again and really make us look pathetic.

I think he had some fine points to make but didn't have the guts to say the words "terrorism" or "terrorist" and shied away from talking about the 9/11 attacks. He also neglected to note that Iraq is now a growing democracy--the first in the Mideast and, in fact, belittled the effort. Plus, he's going to sell out Israel regardless of his words.

Reactions around the blogosphere range from "awful" to "surprisingly good" to disappointment.

Other reactions here, text of the speech here.

I'm hoping this is the last of the America Sucks tour. It's akin to The Who doing their seventeenth annual farewell tour.