Our President in Cairo: Muslims Listened. Did America?

"When all other means of communication fail, try words." I walked by this anonymous quotation every day in grad school -- stuck on a cork bulletin board. Now it makes sense. For the past eight years, our bad attitude made us really unpopular. Unappeasable, we became like the schoolyard bully -- you give him your lunch money and he still beat you up. President Obama is out to change this reputation. His Cairo speech needed to address two audiences at once... skeptical Muslims worldwide and Americans back at home who mostly have a negative view of Muslims and don't believe that US policies are the culprit. Not an easy task. Obama achieved this by sticking to themes that appear in his other public appearances -- by describing how our ideals can make us stronger at home and can help us be a country that others look to for leadership and collaboration. As communications strategies go, President Obama's presence and message once again set the stage for hope and change. His gift is not so much for soaring rhetoric, but certainly for emotional uplift, for creating a sense of shared space. And most significantly, for putting forward a genuine and personal desire for mutual respect. And given where we've been, that's a significant step in the right direction.

Now what do we do?

The Cairo speech may have taken place in Egypt, but it has implications for almost every international challenge that America is facing today. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Israel-Palestine, Iran. We need to step back, take a deep breath and realize that we are at a turning point -- where all of these relationships converge. The big question today is about who we are as a nation and how we're going to interact with the world. The president put it well in his speech, real power comes from consent, not coercion. So then we need to ask ourselves, do we have what it takes to build that kind of power? It will require some pretty dramatic shifts. Now that its the next day, the rest of the world is probably thinking, that speech sounded good, but will Americans ever be able to see themselves in the scheme of things rather than as the scheme of things?

For twenty years, the United States has needed to dramatically shift our strategic lens on national security away from coercion (force) and toward consent (persuasion). This was evident with the end of the Cold War in 1989. In today's world, the safety of people is the centerpiece of 21st century security. Americans perceive these human needs accelerating with the impact of globalization (climate change, contagious ideology, failed governments, disease, etc.). But this principle is also true in our counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan -- where protecting civilians is paramount. Here at home, the Secretary of Defense himself is asking us to stop relying exclusively on the military to achieve national security. As the US re-engages the world, Americans must heed calls to shift from the old linear and technical notion of threat containment to one defined by the human requirements for legitimacy like opportunities for participation, mutual respect and relationship building i.e., policies that give the United States the moral authority to lead. The defense budget this year cuts Cold War programs. The diplomacy budget has increased, but America still desperately lacks the human resources necessary to change course. And we must stop thinking that there is a technological fix for our challenge. The vast majority of our problem solving requires someone to show up and participate in a conversation. Only people can do this job.

Who is continuing the conversation Obama started in Cairo?

What if President Obama put the charisma, organizing ability, and unifying power to inspire -- demonstrated on his campaign -- to work in the Middle East? To cultivate that feeling of potential -- that things will be good again, if we make political changes toward a healthy, green, wired society -- in order to create the innovation necessary for economies to flourish. In other words, people's minds need to change before their politics will. However, it's nearly impossible to expect much of anything to happen when the Palestinians are living in terrible conditions. The United States needs to take a stand, and follow up on it. Americans are ready for it. (Two internal letters circulated Congress recently, one is a rigid text focused on Israel's needs only. The other, however, strongly supports a two state solution) Unless Palestinians start to see some changes on the ground (re: checkpoints, settlements, closure -- complete closure in Gaza), it's going to be asking a lot of them to "wait around" for their daily lives to improve. Their economy is completely strangled as long as they are an occupied territory.

The bottom-up strategy for change is happening. A poll by OneVoice Movement indicates that the overwhelming majority of Israelis and Palestinians are committed to the Two-State Solution. Moreover, the poll showed a strong consensus for the U.S. role in the peace process: 91 percent of Palestinians and 59 percent of Israelis deem the American role "Essential" or "Desirable." And, starting this summer, OneVoice will convene a Town Hall Meeting Series in Israel and Palestine, giving citizens a platform to build consensus on the same issues that their leaders must address during peace negotiations. In this way, ordinary Israelis and Palestinians are doing the heavy lifting to ensure that the parameters of the Two-State Solution are supported on the ground -- so that their leaders will not have to risk a potentially paralyzing expenditure of political capital in order to reach an agreement. We need similar public involvement here for the president's objectives to be realized.

American involvement in Afghanistan-Pakistan confronts us with perhaps the toughest communication challenge in the mix. Our present policy combines both counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, i.e. protecting civilians and going after the bad guys. It thus relies on both coercion and consent -- often at the same time. The case against the predator drone strikes, in fact, is emblematic of this policy struggle. Are the strikes worth it if they engender so much anger that the population turns irretrievably against us? That they become impossible to persuade? Are we offering them any compelling alternatives? I would argue not enough.

Afghanistan is definitely not going to tilt toward consent through technological means. This is where western strategic communications needs a complete revamp. For example, the International Assistance Security Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) plans to install new satellite transmitters across the country, ostensibly to move anti-insurgent messages as quickly as possible. Targets are to include traditional information sources and new media, including popular social networking sites such as Facebook and possibly using local cellphone systems to transmit counter-insurgency messages to villagers via text-message. Um. does ISAF know that only 28% of Afghans are literate? Or that only 18 in 1000 people uses the Internet? (and most of those are likely in Kabul) Having worked in Congress, it makes me wonder whose cousin is getting the satellite contract because they can't be spending these resources based on a real strategy for victory.

Success in Afghanistan is going to require a completely different type of community engagement -- one that is basic and implemented Afghan to Afghan. Even more, it must be truly bottom up and put local power ahead of federal power because Kabul is not uniformly recognized as a credible nor legitimate authority. Americans and other foreigners are going to be involved on the periphery -- if at all. I don't know exactly what success looks like, but it would most likely include all sorts of person to person interaction: activities, meetings of significant community leaders and include roles for observers, validators, surrogates, convenors... a fantastic challenge of coordinated human communication -- one that can't be done by ISAF or any outsider. Kabul could possibly be a coordinating hub... a city as facilitator... but this type of strategy would require us to work on the margins, step back, let go, not know what's going on necessarily, and accepting it.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate"

This famous line from Cool Hand Luke one the best movies of all time... is the sobering starting point for the US government in how we address the rest of the world. Though all our federal agencies have an international desk, getting non Americans to understand and support US policies is part of the State Department called Public Diplomacy (don't worry, nobody really knows what that means). Judith McHale was confirmed in May to run this program -- she's basically the public relations czar for the USA.... McHale is very smart and has an impressive track record in television. In her Senate confirmation, she lauded new media and technology as a way to go directly to the people of the world with our message. I was encouraged that she also stressed that technology is a tool, and not a strategy for communicating. Because she's right, its not.

A strategy would require that we analyze what do people USE computers and Internet for? -- putting greater emphasis on behavior, not just availability. Pretty much everyone can name an instance where technology did not fix a communication problem. Or didn't arrive in time. When I moved to DC in the late 90s my friends at the State Department were using Yahoo! and Hotmail addresses because their tech was so awful. In Lefty politics, it has taken years to create an interactive "crowdsourcing" model for Americans to participate in congressional debate (check this out at progressivecongress.org and that's only because my colleague Darcy Burner is a technology wizard and could write the program. How many people have someone like that on hand around the world?) The "one laptop per child" program has disappointed. There's a common theme here: it is counterintuitive to believe that technology on its own can create ideal outcomes. It's like giving people an oven and automatically assuming / expecting them to bake soufflé , when all 99% will do is heat up pizza.

But pizza is a fine place to start in most places. People like talking to other people. President Obama has reminded us of this and given us a golden opportunity to positively change what it means to be American. He is speaking our world into existence. It is up to us to do the rest.

Comments

[GGMarks]

Obama reaches out to Islam..... and whaddaya know....

A French Airliner goes down shrouded in mystery.....

a holocaust museum is attacked....

and the subject changes to victimhood over genocide.

Some things do NOT change without full discussion without censorship

[MacQ]

Ms. Kelly:
One can believe that America is not the culprit and still respect muslim people.
You insinuate otherwise, and that is insulting.

[MacQ]

Canadians were listening:

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/11743

[Macready]

thank you for posting . . . we must all get behind our Prez 100% . . . peace won't happen with a wave of a magic wand . . . words have to be followed by deeds . . . Americans have to learn that the conflict in the Middle East . . . has been prolonged by America's attitude and blind support for Israel . . . Christians and Muslims have both suffered . . israel is an apartheid state and has to abide by intnerational law . . . war is not a solution . . . America has a huge debt to pay towards the Palestinians, the Iraqis, the Lebanese . . . it is time to redress this . . .

[Alablanca]

i DO BELIEVE THAT 99% OF U.S. CITIZENS DON'T E VEN GIVE THESE THINGS A THOUGHT! OTHER COUNTRIES, BECAUSE THEY ARE OLDER THAN WE ARE, HAVE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES. WE HAVE NOT GONE THROUGH THE TERRIBLE TIMES THAT OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE HAD (IN THEIR OWN BACKYARDS), THEREFORE WE LACK THE HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE THAT IS NEEDED TO JUDGE. IN ADDITION, WE HAVE A PERVERSE REPUBLICA N PARTY THAT IS ONLY INTERESTED IN KNOCKING OUT PRES. OBAMA. THEY REALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT OUR NATION - BAD LOSERS - LIARS - REPULSIVE PARTY. OBAMA REPRESENTS THE VISION OF A UNITED COUNTRY AND A UNITED WORLD - THAT'S TOO NOBLE A PURPOSE FOR THE REPUBLICANS.

[MacQ]

Being as how Mr. Obama said the same things Mr. Bush said, I don't know how your argument works. UNless it was just a chance to bash republicans. I get it.

[lynettema]

OH, sorry. I thought I was posting on the Sarah Palin story. My bad. Ms. Kelly has written a great article here.

[lynettema]

Does she write her own stuff? Or does she murder someone else's writing? Doesn't she have a journalism degree? I'm sorry. I couldn't read the whole thing.

[tbmmoe]

It is great to finally have a president who seems to be able to understand and communicate in the english language; who doesn't see engagement as a sign of weakness; and who at least appears to have a grasp of the complexity of the issues he's dealing with. Maybe many Americans, who seem to prefer racial/religious steriotypes and confrontation won't listen, but if it turns down the heat, let them be as marginalized as they deserve to be.

[OptimusMaximus]

Yes, "he has a grasp of the complexity of the issues".

It's so terribly difficult to grasp those complexities.

Here's a link to the Hamas charter:
http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/www.thejerusalemfund.org/carryover/documents/charter.html

Here's a link to the Koran:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/k/koran/

Here's a link to how the Palistinian Mandate, a part of the British controlled ruins of the Turkish Empire, was divided (click on what really happened in the Middle East):
http://www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org/

As my favorite president once said, "Facts are stubborn things."

The facts are the Islamofacists have vowed never to accept the state of Israel, Islam is most definitely not a religion of peace, the Koran teaches all peoples must either convert to Islam, or live in a subjugated status and pay a "jizrya" tax, or be killed. The Koran also teaches it is morally acceptable to lie to their enemies to advance the cause of Islam.

While most liberals like to rant about attempts of a conservative theocracy to be imposed on US citizens, one of the major differences between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, is that both Jews and Christians believe you must voluntarily submit to the will of their God in order to be acceptable to their God, while Muslims believe in forced conversion, submission, or death.

Islamofacists teach their children to hate the Jews, to be suicide bombers, and celebrate their death.

Hey folks, it's not rocket science.

[tbmmoe]

Great job cherry picking 'facts' to suit your own prejudices. We've been there and done that, and seen the results. Someone once said, "repeat a lie often enough, at it will eventually be accepted as truth". The fact is that extremism can be found on both sides of any conflict. It is well past time to short-circuit extemists of every stripe, and dump them in the bin of irrelevance where they belong. Obama obviously knows enough history, and enough about diplomacy and human nature to speak coherently to both sides.

[writerroz]

I'm going to speak to the key question in Kelly's article. Yes, most Muslims listened and maybe a higher percentage than Americans. Americans with active brains listened, maybe through various mediums and heard probably Pres. Obama's key message. I heard it by email from a group to which I belong, but then there are the mentally challenged who think Limbaugh & Fox speak truth who have not listened to the exact message from Pres. Obama, but got lies from their favorite source.

[NetProphet]

The crux of the problem has always been the Palestinian-Israel debacle.

The 8 yrs of Bush's do-nothing-MidEast "Roadmap" only gave the Israelis false hope. Thru much cojoling by many Born-Againers they managed to twist international rules & regulations into a satanic conspiracy, bribing Israel into a false belief against world order by marginalizing Palestinian (& many Jews) into postponing their need for statehood. Not only Bush, but under Reagan as well - - who gave rise to the fundamentalist movements in the first place. Israel's peace was under no greater peril than during their administrations - - - and the USA paid the price!

The poisonous rhetoric has got to stop!

The long-overdue "Palestinian QUESTION" was settled with an adament NO! by none other than the "no" party of "NO foresight: Neo-Conservatives. The only "yes" they cast is on DOUBLE STANDARDS.

WE WELCOME OBAMA-CLINTON'S PLAN TO CONTINUE THE PROCESS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR BOTH PALESTINIANS ...A..N..D... ISRAELIS! ! ! These are America's TRUE values


(And Ms Kelly - you're analysis of the communicatin difficulties in Afghanistan are 101% correct)

[salh]

I am answering with this comment on June 6, 2009, D-Day. Did you hear the President of France, Pres. Sarkosy's speech.? I think he triumphed over Pres. Obama's speech. I think this was the speech of the CENTURY. . I hope Pres. Obama was listening intently. The French president praised America for its ideals of freedom and liberty. In contrast to Pres. Obama's apologizing to Europe and the muslims of the Middle Eastern countries. Pres. Obama must begin to believe with all his heart in our founding ideas of freedom, liberty, and our ability to overcome all obstacle with our "can do" aattitude.

[Hemihead]

It would have been nice if Obama at least mentioned how Americans fought and died to free Muslims from tyranny in Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan..But once again we find Obama, who evidently has some deep seated hatred for the America that existed BEFORE he became president, focusing on the negatives rather that accentuating the positive role America, throughout history, has played in freeing people from tyranny and oppression.

We were a great nation before he became president, and hopefully, we will still be a great nation when his presidency is over.

Somehow, I have my doubts, as he is trying to change the very foundations that have made our country great to achieve what he terms is "economic equality," rather than economic opportunity.

Socialist, big government policies, historically kill freedom and opportunity that encourages incentive and economic growth by destroying the very wealth needed to sustain them. You can't borrow your way out of debt, and spend your way to prosperity. It is mathematically impossible.

[DawnK]

I don't understand how people like you see strength in how much we are hated abroad. In what way is admitting our failures or finding common ground with our enemies a sign of weakness? I don't understand why you would prefer to live with constant threats and chaos. The socialism argument is gettng real old too. Find something new.

[UKOH]

Right on!

I lived in Denmark for 3 years, a country that would have most of the neocons screaming "communist" and flaying around for a modern day McCarthy.

Guess what - I was every bit as free as I am in America and had some great programs, from excellent public transport, great health care, free adult education and recreation that I don't get in America. The only problem is the high tax rate which I will admit, is far too high for me to consider living in Denmark permanently.

Obama is as much a socialist as Rush Limbaugh is a free and fair objective speaker!

[piloto]

Somehow strong foreign policy is considered a flaw in our country for the last few years and maybe that counterbalances the other side after 9/11. When has talking worked? I can name Maybe Carters summit but in no other time has any appeasement helped our national interests.

So admit we have a failed policy every time we use coercion to achieve our goal in the national security arena? Everybody will then become "non threatening" even the ones with nukes. Guess what chaos is as pervasive as gravity. Law of Entropy, remember college?

As to the idea we are acting socialistic. Chavez thinks so and he is an expert and I must agree with that. Are we fascist? We have a state run media pool with one independent voice. As soon as Faux is outlawed or the unfaireness doctrine gets passed. We will have crossed the line to fascism but of course the internet will keep the ideas spreading unless China helps our govt crack down on the net. We can't do it but outsourcing that change is scary thought..

[Piscopo]

We have no control over other people's feelings. Hatred, being a feeling, is beyond our control. Therefore, we waste time and opportunities directed in unproductive areas.
It is just a popularity issue. Europeans are much more to the left than America. So they like us more when we have a leftist like Obama in charge. Simple. Fear and respect are more powerful.
Europe helped us when both Bushs' were in office. They are as a group weak and fairly useless militarily. But to keep the Libs happy(unilateral war), Bush brought them along. They, as in the first war, have sent enough troops to man ten McDonalds. The European social model is a failure. It's apparent success is due to the U.S. military projecting a deterence, and the Europeans paying next to nothing for their own defense.
Wise up.

[Jazzier]

DawnK....if the "socialism" argument is getting old....try "Marxism" which is a better fit for Obama.

[catfood73]

Great analysis, Lorelei. I wish it could be more optimistic though. Communication and diplomacy are really difficult, and you can't just buy something to make it all better. The good news is that we at least we have an administration that usually wants to do the right thing and is thinking things through instead of acting out emotionally.

Honestly, from the right-wing reaction to Obama's speech you'd think they'd only be satisfied if he'd gotten up there to say "Islam sucks!" over and over again. It would have made the 'wingers feel good, I suppose, but that's kind of a dumb objective.

[ChelseaC]

Lorelei,
Great article-- and thank you for the links!

[Zentrist]

"He is speaking our world into existence...it's up to us to do the rest." Excellent. Would to heavens we could grow, each of us, into this awareness of the power, the almost telepathic power--of words, of thoughts, of especially positive and progressive thoughts emanating from a person or a group who/that has grown through suffering...That would potentially be all of us. "He is speaking our world into existence." That's exactly right. He imagined it; envisioned it. OWNED IT. Now he's sharing it and inviting the world to participate. THIS IS EXCITING!

It is also extremely sobering and "down-to-earth."