Two high-stakes speeches exactly a year apart, both delivered by Barack Obama, both focused on the Middle East. Same message, same tone? Not really.
The president reached out Thursday to the world's billion-plus Muslims in a conciliatory Cairo speech that included a bow to that religion and its contributions to the United States. He spoke of the U.S. desire to remove its troops from Muslim Iraq and Afghanistan, lamented that Palestinians have spent decades suffering "intolerable" treatment, and decried their "daily humiliations" under Israeli "occupation."
On June 4, 2008, presidential candidate Obama's emphasis was different when he addressed his country's most influential Jewish lobbying group. He promised the American Israel Public Affairs Committee an "unshakable commitment" to Israel's security, bemoaned the "rockets raining down" on Israeli towns from Palestinian territory, and said he would never force the Jewish nation to make concessions to its Palestinian and Arab antagonists... [snip]
When he was seeking Jewish-American votes a year ago, he said the holy city "will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided."
After Palestinians complained, he later said the city's fate should be decided by 'negotiation'...
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