I will let Hot Air drill down to the details, but in brief, while it was not totally satisfying to most conservatives, it was surprisingly strong in a lot of critical areas.

I didn’t get the chance to watch Barack Obama’s Cairo speech live, although I’m sure that it will be chopped up on YouTube within the next couple of hours.  Instead, I read the full text posted by Andrew Malcolm, as well as Andrew’s commentary, and in most ways, it wouldn’t differ from a similar speech given by any recent American President.  In fact, the Cairo audience may have been a little surprised about the depth of the defense of Israel’s right to exist in peace, as well as the strong denunciation of 9/11 Trutherism that has been wildly popular among Arabs, even though Osama bin Laden claimed credit long ago for the attack.

The big surprise for me, considering the amount of anti semitic advisors he has, was hi staunch support of Israel as a Nation.

America’s strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.

Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed – more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction – or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews – is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.

His comments on 911 were direct and again, somewhat surprisingly confrontational:

I am aware that some question or justify the events of 9/11. But let us be clear: al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day. The victims were innocent men, women and children from America and many other nations who had done nothing to harm anybody. And yet Al Qaeda chose to ruthlessly murder these people, claimed credit for the attack, and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale. They have affiliates in many countries and are trying to expand their reach. These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be dealt with.

Some have compared this to Bush, and the comparison is valid.  But that could mean that faced with the realities of the office, Obama has seen a  few things to force him to accept that maybe Bush wasn’t totally wrong.

I find that a bit encouraging, and I thik his wavering on Gitmo and a few other issues shows his changing attitude.

Maybe.

Yes, this can be seen as a continuation of his apology tour, and he did take the liberal line on Iraq, but even so, he chose to take a few other very harsh points and not soften them to goo, and for that, he deserves some credit.

He did skip over gay rights in his various points, but you can’t build Rome in a day.  Sorry Gays.

The speech was hailed by his puppet media as historic.  I might not go that far.

But it was good.  Not fantastic and historic.  Just good.

Now to watch and see if it does any good. Early indicators are not very encouraging….

Trackposted to Allie is Wired, Woman Honor Thyself, and The World According to Carl, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.