What can this mean?

I don't really know how to go about this, I am so- I don't even know how I feel! Frustrated? Alarmed? Annoyed? Astounded? All of these I suppose, which makes for one long blog post. I am not even going to apologize for how long this may become-perhaps I will need to break it up in sections. But let me say, as I read this article Pres. Obama's Middle East Speech, I felt sick. Perhaps you need to read it first so you don't feel like I am ranting or being unreasonable. Trust me, you won't believe your eyes. So the only way I can think to start this off is to piece up the speech.  Let's start with his introduction:

"I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.

 Let's stop him right there. I googled that last phrase. Now, I know that google-ing something may not be the most reputable way of  gaining information, but for now it will do. The first site I came upon held this description for the Muslim phrase with which President Obama greeted the people of the Middle East today.

"When Islam came, Allah prescribed that the manner of greeting among Muslims should be 'Assalaamu alaykum'  and that this greeting should only be used among Muslims and not for other nations. The meaning of salaam (literally, peace) is harmlessness, safety and protection from evil and from faults. The name al-Salaam is a Name of Allah, may He be exalted, so the meaning of the greeting of salaam which is required among Muslims is, 'May the blessing of His Name descend upon you.'"

My first question is, "why is our President of the United States of America greeting the Middle East with a religious greeting. Now, it would be different if he wished to greet them in their native language. Yes, obviously it is polite and maybe even impressive to greet a nation with a common salutation in their language- say if he traveled to Germany he said hello in German. But this greeting he used is one of religious connotation, not  lingual connotation. Note that he says that he brings greetings of peace from the Muslim communities in America. It seems to me that he is not representing America as a whole, he is representing fellow Muslims. Where is the greeting from the U.S.? Or are we too hostile to bring greetings to them? I will go with the latter.

 

"We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world - tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam.

Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights."

As for this section, obviously I don't expect the President to rain down hatred upon these nations for the horrid crimes committed by the Muslim extremists, but I think this is quite an understatement. "Some" of his fellow Americans view Islam as hostile. Some? When is the last time you spoke to someone and they said, "Oh, the deaths caused by the terrorist attacks, yeah that was bad. Anyways..." No! Obviously there is always the exception to the rule or statistic, but I would venture to say that significantly more than "some" view these extremists as more than "hostile". (Sigh) Let's continue.

"As the Holy Koran tells us, "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth." That is what I will try to do - 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."

This is astonishing to me. Yes, I would say that this is the kicker of the speech, but I would be lying, because his whole speech is full of this sort of speech. But what really gets me is that in the paragraph right after this one, President Obama specifies that he is now a Christian, but had experience with the Muslim faith when he lived in Indonesia. If he is a Christian and not a Muslim then, why is he quoting "the Holy Koran" and not the Bible as a foundation for guiding principles? Note that I am not questioning his faith, only God knows a person's true heart, but I AM saying that a Christian is known by their fruits, their actions, and their words. What Christian do you know that would choose to quote the founding book of Islam to back up his actions? I just don't understand.  Throughout this whole speech, the President is going out of his way- over and beyond- to relate to the people of the Islamic faith. As if he has to lay out all of the cards on the table and say, "by the way, many Americans are Muslims too, so we support you". Is that really necessary?

"As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam."

Here he goes on to applaud Islam for the development of Algebra, music, etc. I'm sorry, I fail to see how we are indebted to Islam for this. First of all, Muslims were not the only ones to make these discoveries. Sure they paved the way for brilliant inventions, but we have given them enough praise for these things, we are now addressing a religion that hates us!

"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."

 Is he using the fact that Jefferson had the Koran in his library as significant evidence for its importance in America and our government? It seems he is using this to pull at the heartstrings of those who quote our Founders. I fail to see how this relates. Moving on.

"So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear."

President Obama is priding himself and sounds privileged at the fact that he lived in three continents that practiced Islam, before finally reaching the land at which it was "revealed".  And since when is it the duty of the president of the United States to defend the majority religion of another nation?! Yes, America supports freedom of religion. But it is not the job, much less the duty of our president to single out one religion and defend it against stereotypes. My God he won't even defend Christianity! Christianity is being picked apart in the courts and he is doing nothing about it! For the record, I emphasize duty above in italics because I feel this is a powerful word. The definition of duty as an obligatory task, conduct, or service, arising from one's position- according to Merriam-Webster online. Okay, so I can see how (as I said before) the position of President renders a duty to protect the freedom of the people as a whole, but to single out Islam to me is a bit much. Too much.
So you know that I am not making a one-sided argument, I will also add things that I think he did say right. But keep in mind that the things he did say right are almost obliterated when put in the larger concept of what he said wrong. When I say wrong, I mean as a Christian, his utter defense of another religion, and one that hates us at that.

"But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an empire. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words - within our borders, and around the world. We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum: 'Out of many, one.'"

Yes, he was right to make the same requirements of the Muslims, to drop their stereotypes of us Westerners. But notice how many fewer words he used on our defense.We are a place of freedom for many, and our Latin motto says such. But just wait until we finish this whole speech, by the end you will have forgotten anything right he may have said.

So what can this mean for us? We have already seen in the first few paragraphs of President Obama's speech that he is on the track of bowing down to Islam. Honestly I feel betrayed as an American. In the next section we will see what this can mean for Israel.

I am making it a point to break this speech up into several posts, partly for your reading ability, and partly because I cannot do this all in one sitting. So this concludes my first commentary on the President's speech. Please read the parts to come.