I referred to this speech last month, and Yglesias is right– it is a must read (.pdf).
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by John Cole| 2 Comments
This post is in: Foreign Affairs
I referred to this speech last month, and Yglesias is right– it is a must read (.pdf).
Comments are closed.
Matthew Stinson
Clinton gives a damn good speech — and I’d have no problem if his sketch of the situation became a bipartisan conensus about engaging Islam, even if I disagree with some of the ways he characterizes things. (For example, money that goes to finance our debt would not necessarily go to the poor in other countries.)
Nick
For all that I think Bill Clinton was at most an average president and has some significant personal failings, he’s one of the best in the world at giving a speech. I can’t think of one modern American politician today that can connect with an audience and deliver a powerful message like he can. There are things I would quibble with in this speech. As he has before, I think he spends too much on America’s past mistakes; sort of a moral equivalance with todays problems. He’s self-promoting to a fault. Even so, in this speech and other speeches he’s given in the Middle East, he doesn’t shy away from telling Islamic audiences that they have serious problems, and that Israel is not the problem. He praises the right, and condemns the wrong. For an ex-President, he’s doing a pretty good job for America.