In his first interview as president, Barack Obama reiterated a line from his inauguration speech directed at the Muslim world:

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society's ills on the West -- know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

When I first heard this, I was struck by how the second half of the sentence is a threat of imminent demise, not by the power of US bombs and bullets, but rather by a people who realize their leaders' policies and methods are bankrupt.

Again, Obama was addressing the Muslim world but I suspect he is aware that his statement is just as equally applicable to the former US administration as well as himself. To be sure, Bush tried to achieve presidential greatness through destruction. Whether it be terrorists, Social Security, FEMA, welfare, or banking regulations, Bush was always on the side of tearing things down. (To be fair, I suspect he honestly thought doing so was in the best interest of the country but alas, we know now that it was not, good intentions aside.) And sure enough, the people judged him accordingly and he was ran out of office with his tail between his legs: perhaps the closest we can get in a democratic system to a coupe.

Obama, I think, knows that people will judge him too by what he builds rather than what he tears down and I believe that his choice of words at the inauguration exhibit a degree of intellectual subtlety, nuance, and self reflection we have not seen in a while.    

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After 9/11, the US administration (and pretty much the whole of America) began lumping together terrorists into the same basket with those countries and groups that support terrorist organizations. In this equation, the Saudis were always the most problematic since the kingdom is a major sponsor of various kinds of terror, not least of which includes that directed at their own people (sound familiar?). Yet the Saudis are also staunch allies and friends of the US.

Well, here's yet another example of this profound irony.

At the close of the recent Israeli-Hamas "conflict," the Saudi king Abdullah pledged US$1 Billion to rebuilt Gaza. After seeing the horrific images of death and destruction that flowed out of the Palestinian territory over the past several weeks, few would object to such a gesture. But let's think about this a little deeper. How will the Saudi's donate this money to Gaza? Do you suppose they'll drop it from helicopters? Probably not. How about sending in Saudi diplomats to pass it out from door to door? Nope! Perhaps some NGOs will get a cut, maybe even the Red Crescent, to be sure. But almost without a doubt, the ones who will be entrusted with the largest portion of that huge sum of cash will be the territory's legal and democratically elected government: Hamas. Yes, the same Hamas that the Israelis and the US tell us incessantly is a terrorist organization.

The Saudis are close allies and friends of the US.
The Saudis give money to terrorist organizations.
 
Any questions?

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