Thursday, June 4, 2009

Comparison of Bush and Obama's speeches on Middle East

I watched yesterday Obama's speech on the Middle East and found it courageous and fair. But am I objective, given that I am a strong Obama's fan? I found an old speech given by Bush that is revealing. Here is a comparison of the two speeches:






From my own account, I find Bush's approach to the issues aggressive, lesson-giving and most of all, lacking self-criticism. His description of the concepts of democracy and freedom are striking examples and are reminiscent of his own dual vision of the world: "we are the greatest, sorry; follow us or go to hell". I am not even sure I am being unfair here.

Notice also how he is not shy of critics of his "enemies". The issue of education at the beginning of the video is the perfect example of how to hurt an entire people: "[...] with primary schools teaching basic skills such as reading and math [rather than?] indoctrinating children with ideology of hatred." Unfair and completely counter-productive.

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