One speech won't change the world

President Obama pleaded with the Muslim world Friday in a 55-minute speech in Cairo, Egypt, that was widely praised by Western officials and moderate Muslims. Like all of his speeches, it was eloquently delivered and persuasively written. The problem is that moderate Muslims are not the ones making trouble in the world. At the same time Obama was visiting the Middle East, Osama bin Laden was issuing an audio recording calling on Muslims around the world to continue the violence al Qaida has sponsored against Western interests everywhere. Al Jazeera, the Arabic news channel, played the bin Laden tape while Obama was speaking.

Some of the reaction to Obama's speech (not quoted in the above-linked Washington Post article) showed just how far America and the West have to go to resolve the enmity felt by Muslims, especially Arabs. Obama sought to plow a middle ground, criticizing both Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli settlements, for example, but a middle ground is unfamiliar territory in this region. One Palestinian I saw quoted lambasted Obama for defending Israel's right to exist, saying the president ignored Palestinians' "right of return."

The hatreds in this region go back many centuries. Often-violent differences between Shia and Sunni branches of Islam go back to the eighth century. One speech, even one that runs nearly an hour, is not going to resolve those differences.

Obama deserves credit for attempting to improve relations between America and moderate Arabs and Muslims, but the promoters of violence and hatred will not be won over by a speech.