Quick summary by Pipes of the messiah’s b.s. session
Daniel Pipes writes:
Barack Obama’s mention of “seven million American Muslims” in the course of his rambling and complex six-thousand-word address to the Muslim world from Cairo symbolizes the whole message.
Study after study has found that demographic figure about three times too high. But Islamist organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America relentlessly promote the notion of seven or even ten million American Muslims. Obama’s accepting their version amounts to a giveaway, a cheap way to win the approbation of Islamists who so widely influence Muslim opinion.
“Giveaway,” indeed, defines the whole speech—inexpensive nods, tips of the hat, and salutations to win Muslim favor without initiating new approaches or embarking on new policies. The speech confirms Obama’s personal efforts (note how, in keeping with his past practice, he uses the word “respect” ten times in this speech) as well as the established practice of American political leaders to promote Islam, tell Muslims what their religion really means, avoid references to radical Islam, and excoriate violent Islamism while accepting the non-violent variety.
On other issues too—Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Arab-Israeli conflict, democracy—Obama reiterated his known policies.
In brief, he broke little new ground but raised to new heights the art of sugaring words in ways appealing to Islamists.
LA adds:
That Obama would resort to the hoary propaganda lie (normally used only by Muslim interest groups whom no one takes seriously) that there are seven million Muslims in the U.S. is disgusting, but not surprising, given that there is no lie this man will not tell.
I continue to believe that the main motive driving Obama in his sycophancy to the Islamic world is not that he wants anything from Muslims (other, than, of course adulation, but he wants that from everyone, except white conservatives). Rather, since Islam is the main “Other” in relation to America and the West, praising Islam is his way of expressing his dislike of and sense of superiority toward America, and asserting his own, adversarial identity against it. He’s not the first person to have resorted to this form of Oedipal ego enhancement,—Western intellectuals have been using Islam as a foil against Europe since at least the 16th century—and he won’t be the last. But surely no one has ever acted out the distasteful drama on such a vast stage before.
Further, and far more significant and threatening, the drama is not just about Obama and his ego needs. It is about Obama using his position as leader of the dominant Western country to transform the West into a dhimmi of Islam.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 04, 2009 12:44 PM | Send