I strongly concur. This speech of Obama in Ankara was a gem. The many
connections or analogies in US and Turkish history were brilliantly
conveyed. I was impressed, no, moved, by the deft connection between
the Armenian tragedy of 1915 and the not-so-easy elimination of slavery
in the US. Point Made: We Americans are not preaching to you. We're
in this together as fellow humans trying to build on (which means also
overcoming) our history).
I could go on -- Obama managed to champion Ataturk and also Islam, and
in a way that did not seem forced.
The jaded will, as always, say that rhetoric can take you only so far,
but (1) masterful rhetoric can take one much farther than cynics suspect
and (2) Obama's rhetoric reflects a substantive strategy that is
coherent and promising.
