HUSSEIN IBISH: One Step Forward

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/19/one_step_forward?page=fullOne Step Forward

By acknowledging that interests and values sometimes contradict, President Obama has cleared the path for progress in the Middle East.

BY HUSSEIN IBISH | MAY 19, 2011

President Obama's Middle East speech couldn't possibly have -- and almost certainly didn't -- please all of its potential audiences. His comments, however, were refreshingly honest in acknowledging the limitations of American power and influence and even broke new ground on a number of important subjects.

Obama returned to the theme that characterized his last major Middle East policy speech, on the Libyan intervention: the intersection, and often tension, between American interests and values. He wisely chose not to proffer a facile panacea that would almost certainly have proven unworkable...READ MORE