What did you think about Obama's speech in Egypt?

No different than how I felt about every single one of his speeches. I keep looking for an excuse to give him some credit, and so far I failed to be amazed.

He's cowardly implying things he shouldn't and he's cowardly taking credit for others when it improves his image. So... it left me cold. I am not at all inspired by him... perhaps the only inspiration I draw from his blabbering is to shut off the TV.

My first impression of Obama is that he says all the right things but doesn't actually do much. As it is coming to light that society was first formed on trade and not warfare as was initially suspected, then trade should be used to further enhance society. The problem is that there's a great deal of trade to be had in weapons of war. The most powerful company on the planet is an American arms manufacturer! Their products "need" to be used to generate further sales. Much anger towards the US was generated in the last two terms and Obama has just "increased" the money that the US spends on defence! I think that the revenue generated by the conflict / peace dichotomy is faster in conflict and slower in peace, but longer (much longer) in peacetime and therefore far more beneficial to society. Perhaps Obama has realized that and is trying to rebuild his bridges. Sorry, I've gone off at a tangent, this answer is more "thinking at the keyboard" than anything else. You're still going to get it though, sorry!

The West and Islamic world both have things to apologize for. No one is innocent in this conflict. I believe that Obama took a great leap forward in forging a new and better relationship between our country and the Middle East. The image that Americans are power-hungry imperialists(an unfortunate product of past administrations' policies) will not disappear overnight but it has been challenged, and I think the dialogue we are seeing now from this administration will be good to restore our reputation in that area of the world and as a result undermine the ability of terrorist groups to use this false image as a recruiting tool.

Anyways I enjoyed the speech, and it made me very hopeful for the future.

His lengthy speech penetrated the crowd and rocked them to their core. It seemed to last for hours, but in a way that was not painful or boring. His plans for a two-state system of governance in the Holy Land was both pragmatic and progressive. The applause climaxed over and over and over again, leaving spectators exhausted yet fulfilled. The pleasure of the spectators, sweating from the challenging thoughts and ideas presented in the speech forced them to assume multiple positions as they considered the astonishing breadth of Obama's intellectual potency. I feel like it was a very pleasurable experience for all involved.

As usual what the Republicans are trying to portray it as is simply ridiculous and out of touch with reality

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiqUK...

So no Obama is not appeasing and begging and all the other nonsense the American right claims. He's trying to improve America's image like Bush tried on several occasions BTW but Bush had zero credibility.

http://www.rediff.com/cms/print.jsp?docpath=//us/2...

That's crucial here. Bush tried to do this but failed miserably because no one believed him anymore so right wingers have no reason to attack Obama over doing what Bush tried to do but much better. Maybe they're just jealous.

That being said. The Obama speech was about improving America's image and rehabilitate American imperialism. In that regard it was a lot of empty rhetoric and highly hypocritical when compared to his actions.

The vague and flowery rhetoric, the verbal tributes to Islamic culture and the equal rights of nations, constitute an adjustment of the language being used to cloak the policy of US imperialism, not a change in substance. Obama made not a single concrete proposal to redress the grievances of the oppressed peoples of the Middle East. That is because the fundamental source of this oppression is the profit system and the domination of the world by imperialism, of which American imperialism is the most ruthless.

Obama made one passing reference to colonialism, and to the US role in the overthrow of the democratically elected Mossadegh government in Iran in 1953. But in his litany of “sources of tension” in the region, he offered the same checklist as his predecessor, with the first place given to “violent extremism”, Obama’s rhetorical substitute for Bush’s “terrorism.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/pers-j05...

It's a pretty empty admission and highly hypocritical at a point in time where the US under an Obama government is once again undermining the Iranian government.

So he admits the atrocities of 1953 which is good but not one word about the current American terrorism in Iran let alone a stop to these crimes. Total and stunning hypocrisy, sorry

The real reason Iran leaders have not responded to the new president more enthusiastically" is that "the Obama administration has done nothing to cancel or repudiate an ostensibly covert but well-publicized program, begun in president George W Bush's second term, to spend hundreds of million of dollars to destabilize the Islamic Republic."

As reconfirmed in the same New York Times story, Iran helped the US topple the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001, but in return Iran was rewarded by being included in Bush's "axis of evil".

The story about the covert operations against the Iranian government was detailed in 2007 in an ABC News Exclusive called "The Secret War Against Iran". The news revealed that the group Jundallah's "guerrilla raid inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005" and had been indirectly funded "through Iranian exiles" to avoid "congressional oversight".

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KF03Ak02....

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080729_acts_...

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN2...

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=168...

The US is involved in the same behavior today under direct responsibility of the current American President

Once again Obama reveals himself to be all talk. Only those living comfortable lives in luxury can believe his smooth words and ignore his actions. For innocent Iranians, Iraqis, Afghans and Pakistanis who suffer under the American Imperialism today as ordered by Barack Obama that's a lot harder.

I think the latter, but it doesn't really matter what we think, but how the middle east perceives the speech and the motives. They overwhelmingly state that they are hopeful and enthusiastic about the speech and the goals of the Obama administration. They just want to see what steps he will take to make his goals happen. Obviously, decades of failure on all sides make them wary.

Does he know that he won the election and that foreigners don't vote in our elections anyway? He seems to be more worried about approval poll ratings in foreign countries than he should be.

All smoke and mirrors i thought.

What happened to mr magoo, weren't you a item?

I m sorry luv about that, sure there is someone out there for you.

I thought it was a good speech. He made a balance of being tough on extremism while at the same time trying to reach out to the Muslims for a new beginning.

I don't think he was apologetic at all.

Muslim means "one who submits". Seems to me he bowed to them all and blamed America for THEIR wrongdoings. Colonized America? Get a grip Barry--didn't happen. Our modernization is seen as a threat? Tell them to GET OVER IT Barry..don't apologize for it. He pandered big time and left us as weak as ever.