According to the Rabid Left, this is THE speech that is going to heal everything between the "Arab Street" and America.

If it doesn't, can we then expect these same people to admit that they were wrong and seriously naive?

Robert and his Rabid Right friends think that by putting words in people's mouths, people might believe them. Sorry pal, we're not that stupid.

Robert and his Rabid Right friends think that the best way to make peace is at the point of a gun and can't stand the thought that maybe they've already been proven wrong. The Bush way of pretending to be a hard man (bring it on) only inflamed tensions and increased the danger in the world.

I'm glad we have an intelligent President who is working to decrease worldwide tension. The Bush administration left us with a big enough mess to clean up without adding to it by ratcheting up the violence (on both sides).

Cheers, Neil.

Well, damn all of you who decide there is only "left" and "right" to complex issues. Damn you again if you establish a "personal" investment in how your President is doing and stick to that lest ye feel badly about him.

But, to the point: "Hajeeb" is merely "strategery" as expressed by a new President. Let those who jeered before now take a lesson, not just offense, from those who jeer now.

Schizoid Americans. Two wrongs don't make a right, and your guy isn't perfect, whoever you're pointing at.

Thank you Radwaste, point well taken.

But to your other point - the jeering before was because of a long history of mispronunciations and was from people who spoke the language (English). The jeering now, if there is any, is for an isolated incident from people who don't speak the language (Arabic).

To Amy's point - I don't think he claimed to be an expert in Islam or a fluent Arabic speaker. He has claimed some experiences in that area, has lived in Indonesia, and has claimed his experiences would help him interact with Arabic and Islamic nations. I don't understand why you're trying to make more of it than it is.

Cheers, Neil.

I'm glad we have an intelligent President who is working to decrease worldwide tension. The Bush administration left us with a big enough mess to clean up without adding to it by ratcheting up the violence (on both sides).

If this asshole is your idea of intelligent, you've got lower standards than just about anyone.

Let's recount the foreign policy successes of Obama, OK?

Pissed off Canada, Mexico, France, England, Spain, Germany, Colombia and Italy.

Nearly started a trade war with China, Canada, Mexico.

Is getting accolades from Venezuela. Is being called "too socialist" by Cuba.

Is being laughed at by North Korea and Iran.

Has abandoned Israel.

Not bad for such an "intelligent" guy, heh?

Diplomacy only works when your opponent has something they are willing to give up in exchange for peace. Bush knew this. He also knew that neither Iran not North Korea were interested in giving up the one thing they have.

So, thanks to the continued bungling of our boy president, there will be nuclear war in our lifetime. In fact, it will probably be well before 2012.

I'm so glad we kept that chillbilly whore out of the White House. Really dodged a bullet there.

Neil, unlike you, I don't have hatred toward Obama like you clearly do toward Bush (and likely most everyone who disagrees with you).

As for Obama's speech, it did contain several meaningless platitudes but he must be praised for this section:

"Now, the second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world. 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. It is ignorant, and it is hateful."

What's odd is that I heard him say a number of other words with an Arabic-sounding pronunciation.

Nothing wiil heal things between the Arab world and ours because Islam commands Muslims to convert or kill the rest of us. Also, polygamy, according to a few studies, likely is what leads to young Muslim men to off themselves in the name of Islam.

The Muslim world is 80 percent illiterate, and easily led. There can be no peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians because the Arabs wish to commit genocide on the Jews, and state it plainly. They have been offered the two-state solution a number of times, and do not want it. Their Arab brethren sit around calmly as Muslims are killed by Muslims in great numbers, but when the Israelis take out a single house being used to launch rockets, Muslims go wild.

I am no fan of the belief in god and the silly mass superstition businesses called religion, but the Jews are slightly annoying, and many Christians are far too meddling, but neither one of those religions has vast numbers of people trying to murder people in the name of Moses or Jesus. And therein lies the difference.

Obama showed massive naivete in much he said in this speech (perhaps part diplomacy, aka lying while wearing a very nice suit). I'm hoping it's the latter but I'm not very optimistic.

"So, thanks to the continued bungling of our boy president, there will be nuclear war in our lifetime. In fact, it will probably be well before 2012."

Don't think there'll be a major war. There'll just be continual "appeasement" and open borders to Muslim immigrants in the Western world, until demographics and birth rates dictates encroaching Sharia and that we'll be vastly outnumbered on our own turf, then unless we're extremely lucky the remaining Westerners will just be rounded up and murdered on our own turf.

But hey, at least there won't be "worldwide tension" in the process.

Of course there's less "tension" when the victim of an aggressor just quietly gives up to his oppressor without resistance.

Mouse - care to explain how you come to your conclusion? I mean, it's not significantly better than nuclear war, but I think mine is more likely now.

Obama is guilty of committing the "Rational Actor" fallacy. He doesn't believe that Iran will nuke Israel because they face certain annihilation if they do. Where he's wrong is that the leadership of Iran would welcome such a thing because dead people can't criticize their absolute failure to make Iran prosperous.

Yes, I just said that. Iran's leadership will trade their annihilation for the destruction of Jews. In their cosmic calculations, Israel can't kill all the muslims on Earth, while Iran can kill the bulk of Jews. Therefore, they win.

I stand by my belief that the moment Iran has a deliverable atomic weapon, they will perform their test over Tel Aviv.