8 january 2010, deserved applause for obama

Friday 8th January 2010

While most of the uk was hearing about jonathan ross (a disgraceful 20 minutes of pm last night), barak was making an important speech in response to the christmas day non-bombing in which he said that america “will not succumb to a siege mentality that sacrifices the open society and liberties and values that we cherish... because great and proud nations don't hunker down and hide behind walls of suspicion and mistrust. That is exactly what our adversaries want... we will never hand them that victory. We will define the character of our country, not some band of small men intent on killing innocent men, women and children.” To many of us, that’s an appallingly obvious response to such things – but one not made much in america this last decade, and a brave approach from a president under bitter and continuous fire for being “soft on security” in the broader context of a democratic party deemed unelectable for so long because of the issue, (rather as britain’s labour party was unelectable in the 1980s because of nuclear disarmament unilateralism). He also restated the realism that “even the best intelligence can't identify in advance every individual who would do us harm”. The other appallingly-obvious-but-too-little-stated point was that “the vast majority of Muslims reject al-qaeda”. Again, don’t underestimate the power of this from the most heard person in the world. The strategy he set out was not the ill-conceived and utterly counterproductive “war on terror” but to “communicate clearly to muslims around the world that al-qaeda offers nothing except a bankrupt vision of misery and death, including the murder of fellow Muslims”. Too many of obama’s speeches are soaring but substance light. This one, delivered without the usual verve, was as heavy and brave as they come.