Just a thought...

I wish I could post this without knocking Stan's DMX post down from the top spot, because that needs to sit and simmer for a bit while the messages of Barack Obama's "More Perfect Union" speech sink into some truly ignorant fuckers...

But, I have been mulling over another take-away from his speech today. I realize that the goals of the speech were to address a major issue that still casts an ugly, unfortunate pall over our country and to seal a gap in his campaign's call to unity. However, I am also wondering if this is the much needed discussion that we need to have concerning American foreign policy. I am certainly not a pacifist, but it strikes me that the nuance that Obama sees in race relations in America is reflected in his desire to talk to countries like Iran, North Korea, and Syria. Some of the notes that he struck upon in his speech also come up over and over in the study of "extremism" or "Islamist militancy." The means and statements of those movements are detestable, but nonetheless the anger lingers. The rhetoric and goals of extremist movements are reprehensible, but their popularity is borne of the legitimate concerns of people in some truly failing societies.

The speeches of Jeremiah Wright were absolutely ignorant in their tone and message. And, I realize the danger of trying to formulate a foreign policy message around a speech that was in many ways trying to correct a lapse in judgment on behalf of Obama. The America-hating sentiments from which those speeches SEEMED to originate are not the stuff of heady international affairs discussions. However, what Obama seems to recognize is the profoundly difficult nature of being a leader (whether of a congregation, a community, a city, or a country) requires a perspective from all angles. This type of thinking is not easily translated into political speeches, which this certainly was, but it is a deep level of analysis that America must beg for, for the sake of our future as a shining city upon a hill.

I am certainly in no way trying to equate the struggle of African-Americans and other minorities with those of Islamist militants and anti-West, anti-Israel hatred. But, I would simply like to point out as a student of foreign policy that this message can resonate globally as well. We can choose the politics of 100 years in Iraq, of continued war, of continued divisiveness. Or, we can choose the politics that at least hears the other side out and tries to grasp why their message is so vitriolic. I am all for throwing Osama bin Laden under the bus, but to conduct an effective counteroffensive against his rhetoric is to acknowledge that it has an origin that is neither dead nor the past. Someone who can embrace that level of nuance and critical thinking is the one I want answering the phone at 3AM.