[Peace-discuss] Foreign press slightly more honest

[C. G. Estabrook]

[This is from the German news magazine Der Spiegel --  as much a capitalist 
enterprise as the NYT & the WaPo, which praised the speech, but not as sold out 
to the propaganda needs of the USG. --CGE]

	Searching in Vain for the Obama Magic
	By Gabor Steingart

Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday 
address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a 
campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric -- and left both dreamers and 
realists feeling distraught.

One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their 
best to ensure that Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama's speech would be well-received.

Just minutes before the president took the stage inside Eisenhower Hall, the 
gathered cadets were asked to respond "enthusiastically" to the speech. But it 
didn't help: The soldiers' reception was cool.

One didn't have to be a cadet on Tuesday to feel a bit of nausea upon hearing 
Obama's speech. It was the least truthful address that he has ever held. He 
spoke of responsibility, but almost every sentence smelled of party tactics. He 
demanded sacrifice, but he was unable to say what it was for exactly.

An additional 30,000 US soldiers are to march into Afghanistan -- and then they 
will march right back out again. America is going to war -- and from there it 
will continue ahead to peace. It was the speech of a Nobel War Prize laureate.

Just in Time for the Campaign

For each troop movement, Obama had a number to match. US strength in Afghanistan 
will be tripled relative to the Bush years, a fact that is sure to impress hawks 
in America. But just 18 months later, just in time for Obama's re-election 
campaign, the horror of war is to end and the draw down will begin. The doves of 
peace will be let free.

The speech continued in that vein. It was as though Obama had taken one of his 
old campaign speeches and merged it with a text from the library of ex-President 
George W. Bush. Extremists kill in the name of Islam, he said, before adding 
that it is one of the "world's great religions." He promised that responsibility 
for the country's security would soon be transferred to the government of 
President Hamid Karzai -- a government which he said was "corrupt." The Taliban 
is dangerous and growing stronger. But "America will have to show our strength 
in the way that we end wars," he added.

It was a dizzying combination of surge and withdrawal, of marching to and fro. 
The fast pace was reminiscent of plays about the French revolution: Troops enter 
from the right to loud cannon fire and then they exit to the left. And at the 
end, the dead are left on stage.

Obama's Magic No Longer Works

But in this case, the public was more disturbed than entertained. Indeed, one 
could see the phenomenon in a number of places in recent weeks: Obama's magic no 
longer works. The allure of his words has grown weaker.

It is not he himself who has changed, but rather the benchmark used to evaluate 
him. For a president, the unit of measurement is real life. A leader is seen by 
citizens through the prism of their lives -- their job, their household budget, 
where they live and suffer. And, in the case of the war on terror, where they 
sometimes die.

Political dreams and yearnings for the future belong elsewhere. That was where 
the political charmer Obama was able to successfully capture the imaginations of 
millions of voters. It is a place where campaigners -- particularly those with a 
talent for oration -- are fond of taking refuge. It is also where Obama set up 
his campaign headquarters, in an enormous tent called "Hope."

In his speech on America's new Afghanistan strategy, Obama tried to speak to 
both places. It was two speeches in one. That is why it felt so false. Both 
dreamers and realists were left feeling distraught.

The American president doesn't need any opponents at the moment. He's already 
got himself.

12/02/2009
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,664753,00.html
Opinion
President Barack Obama's Tuesday speech left a bad taste in many mouths.

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