It's not that I disagree with anything in this editorial from the Chicago Tribune. It's just that I get the impression they knew they had to come up with something but couldn't quite find anything particularly original to say:
President Barack Obama came to the heart of the Arab world on Thursday to explain America and its aims to Muslims across the globe. This was The Speech. The long-promised, long-awaited moment that the new president -- drawing on his father's Islamic heritage -- would begin to change unflattering perceptions of America in the Islamic world.
I'm not even sure whether this rates as "commentary". It's more just a summary of platitudes. Meanwhile, here's what the New York Times has to say:
When President Bush spoke in the months and years after Sept. 11, 2001, we often — chillingly — felt as if we didn’t recognize the United States. His vision was of a country racked with fear and bent on vengeance, one that imposed invidious choices on the world and on itself. When we listened to President Obama speak in Cairo on Thursday, we recognized the United States.
When we listen to the New York Times, we recognize a newspaper with something to say.
Now back to the Chicago Tribune. You almost feel sorry for the editors as they flail about looking for a way to end the piece. Here's what they come up with:
Obama's carefully modulated speech pleased many people in precincts of the Middle East. But the difficult decisions he will have to make about the U.S. role in this troubled part of the world almost guarantee that he will have to anger somebody -- maybe everybody -- there.
Um, thud. Can I have fries with that banality?
Meanwhile, once again, the New York Times:
Before Thursday’s speech, and after, Mr. Obama’s critics complained that he has spent too much time apologizing and accused him of weakening the country. That is a gross misreading of what he has been saying — and of what needs to be said. After eight years of arrogance and bullying that has turned even close friends against the United States, it takes a strong president to acknowledge the mistakes of the past. And it takes a strong president to press himself and the world to do better.
Sometimes words do matter. As a city we deserve better from our newspaper(s). Can the New York Times please set up shop here?
