During his Inauguration, President Barack Obama made his intentions well known to the outside world “To the Poor people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean water flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.” And to the adversaries in foreign audience he said “we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist”.
Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates wrote in an article “but over the long term, the United States cannot kill or capture its way to victory. Where possible what the military calls Kinetic (violent or force-on-force) operations should be subordinated to measures aimed at promoting better governance, economic programs that spur development, and efforts to address the grievances among the discontented.” This strategy is what Secretary Clinton termed Smart Power.
This administration has not used any of the elements of smart power, neither sticks nor carrots in its dealings with the Middle East. it has not pushed for a settlement of the problem in the Holy Land; it has issued hollow criticism of the Iranian government following its violent crack down on protesters; and finally it has ignored the dictatorial nature of the Yemeni government of Ali-Abdullah Saleh and it is offering it military aid, which will be diverted and used against the separatists movements in the country, rather than against Al-Qaeda;
While most analysts would interpret the election of the republican Scott Brown to the senate as a defeat to President Obama on domestic issues, I would take it even further and say that the current administration, has hitherto, failed on the foreign agenda too.
The speech in Cairo was beautiful because it was addressed to the masses, but without actions that back up the speech and benefit theses masses, it will remain just a speech.It is not too late to re-engage the Muslim world and offer them the tools to defeat Al-Qaeda once and for all, the greatest tool of all—Freedom from repressive governments.