In a much-anticipated speech focusing on development, democracy and religion, President Obama sought on Wednesday to strengthen America’s ties with Indonesia, a rising Asian power with the world’s largest Muslim population. But his intended audience was also elsewhere in the Muslim world, especially in the Middle East, where he began talking last year of a fresh start between the West and the Islamic world.
Muslim leaders here praised Mr. Obama’s knowledgeable and warm approach to Indonesia but expressed doubts that his speech would resonate in the wider Muslim world. Too few concrete changes in American foreign policy, they said, had followed previous speeches in Egypt and Turkey.
In one sense, there is no harm to such an outreach--as long as we aren't confused about what we need to do even as we speak nice words. That is just a variation of speaking softly and carrying a big stick.
But always remember there are severe limits to what outreach can achieve. As long as we don't literally submit to them, the Islamists will never be happy with us. I imagine that if we nuked Israel, we'd only get a three-month uptick in approval before the next issue with us rubbed them the wrong way.
