PERHAPS THE MOST HELPFUL METAPHOR WOULD BE THE COVER SONG:

Obama: Salaam Aleikum (Joshua Kucera, June 5, 2009, Slate)

President Obama spoke to the Muslim world in a heavily watched speech in Cairo, and it leads almost all the papers. In the words of the Washington Post, it was "a direct appeal to the Islamic world Thursday for a 'new beginning' with the United States, acknowledging historical mistakes made over centuries in the name of culture and religion that he said are now overshadowed by shared interests." The reviews were largely positive and acknowledged Obama's ambition in giving the speech: The New York Times called the address a "bold overture" and "the riskiest of his presidency." The Post said it "electrified many Muslims in the Arab Middle East," and the Los Angeles Times called it "sweeping" and said it got "support from unexpected voices, such as members of the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip and Islamist intellectuals in Pakistan." Only the Wall Street Journal seemed unimpressed, saying Obama "waded into the heart of the Middle East conflict" and "chided" Israel. USA Today fronts the speech but leads instead with advance word that a Federal Aviation Administration report will show that one in three U.S. airports have not taken legally mandated action to protect planes from birds.

Obama seemed to have the Cairo crowd at hello; his greeting of "Salaam aleikum" (literally, peace be upon you) was greeted with applause and cheers by the audience at the university hall where the speech was delivered. The speech was widely praised by Muslims for its skillful use of Koran quotes, omission of the word "terrorist," and acknowledgement of U.S. mistakes toward the Muslim world. The NYT goes so far as to say it was structured "almost like a Friday Prayer," and the Post has good reporting on how Obama was able to achieve that level of facility with Muslim rhetorical practice, by meeting several times with American Muslim groups.

It was mainly a function of circumstances that made it seem that W was shouting when he spoke to the Arab world. The UR has the advantage of simply being not-W and of taking over once the heavy-lifting was done. So he's singing the same lyrics but with some tonal differences. Kind of like this:

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 5, 2009 7:57 AM