41 - Judge ourselves honestly, and the world will follow

The following letter was published on June 11, 2009 by
The Cape Cod Times
Cape Cod, Massachusetts

In my opinion, President Obama's June 4 speech in Cairo was crafted to engage, not offend.

Many conservative radio talk-show hosts and others are concentrating on toxic negatives they think should have been in Obama's speech.

Idiosyncrasies exist in many governments, if not all; it shows a lack of character in a government when it is quick to judge others and not itself. When Obama referred to the Iraq war as a "war of choice," he received applause from his Cairo audience.

Were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to admit that the settlement construction in the West Bank was misguided, and if President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran were to admit he was wrong about his Holocaust denial, that part of the world that wants peace would applaud them both.