U.S. President Barack Obama's speech to the Middle East was emotionally charged but ultimately empty rhetoric without much substance, said two prominent Egyptian intellectuals. Dr. Emad Abdel Lateef, professor of rhetoric and speech analysis at Cairo University, and critic Howeida Saleh said their observation reflected the contradictions in what Obama advocated in his speech. Abdel Lateef said Oabama's speech on Thursday was very different from the speech he gave two years ago at Cairo University. Lateef said this may be because of the changing situation in the Middle East and the shift in Obama's domestic popularity. Lateef said, “The language he uses is clearer and bolder when he discusses political systems in the Middle East." Lateef said this is an attempt on Obama's part to make it appear that America is supporting the Arab states and uprisings. He said the American government's actions contradict what he described as “sugar-coated political rhetoric," which Lateef said “Arab nations have become immune to." Saleh shared Abdel Lateef's perception of the president's speech. She said Obama's mention of the pre-1967 Palestinian borders is dangling uncertain hope in Palestinian's faces. Palestinian groups and movements are petitioning for the U.N. General Assembly to recognize them as a nation state in September. However, Obama never mentioned how he aims to achieve a demilitarized state. Saleh said it was another manifestation of “America's grand, yet nearly always unreached, promises." She added, “When Obama spoke of the Revolution in Egypt and in the Arab world, he used fancy, poetic language celebrating the spread of democracy and yet America was the biggest supporter of both Mubarak and [Tunisia's] Ben Ali's regimes." Concerning Obama's comments on the Syrian Revolution, Saleh was not surprised by the options offered by Obama to President Bashar el-Assad. She said the suggestions prove Obama supports the repression of Syrian protesters in order to preserve the Golan Heights. Saleh said Obama's comments on Bahrain seemed targeted to win friends in the Gulf Area. There was no mention of Bahraini Shi'a being killed daily, and there also seemed to be an attempt at building bridges when Obama did not confront Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh. This led Saleh to ask, how can America support such oppressive regimes and still claim to be a champion of democracy?
