An Obama Flip Flop?

The Gateway Pundit has a brief post.

There, the first commenter doesn't think it's really a flip flop. He does seem convincing.

Comments

[Cafe Alpha]

Now be fair, it's not a contradiction to say that he wouldn't act to prevent genocide but once one it under way then he'll hop to it!

So remember, once a million or more people are dead, then Obama's is ready for moral ACTION!

Those first million will have the comfort of knowing that everyone they knew didn't die entirely in vain :p

Sigh. I had no idea Obama was crass enough to have made that first statement. God.

[Cafe Alpha]

I guess this means we can't expect any action on the Sudan. Only a few hundred thousand dead. Trifles!

[Cafe Alpha]

You should listen to the whole of Obama's speech at Cairo's University. It was interesting to gauge audience reaction.

He hit some sour notes. For instance I'm sure the people who dared to cheer on his mentioning of democracy felt betrayed when he followed that by saying that democracy can't be imposed (taking a swipe at the Iraq war, which he called a "war of choice").

Luckily he followed that by endorsing the specific differences that separate a liberal democracy from tyranny .. so he was trying to strike a balance. That's a normal thing for speakers in the Middle East, but it's a bit depressing to hear an American President speak as if he were so powerless that he has to speak around the truth and make his words palatable to dictators and anti-freedom fence sitters. On the other hand, this will be the first time many Egyptians will have heard anyone speak relatively clearly about human rights, peace, history and democracy in public. Perhaps by making his speech somewhat diplomatic (and stroking Islam in the process) he will create a model for speech that other people in Egypt can copy.

I also noticed the reflexive applause whenever Islam was named.

It was interesting to note the absolute silence when he said that America had no choice but to respond to 9/11 and went on to talk about Afghanistan. They didn't want to hear that. Still it's probably the first time they ever heard anyone take America's side in that.

It was also interesting to note the applause for a few civilized notions like calls for peace. However the silences were occasionally ominous..