Obama's speech, his first major address since the death of Osama bin Laden, is being described by the White House as an effort to assess the historic change sweeping the region in the so-called "Arab Spring." He plans to outline the political, economic and national security opportunities emerging for its people and for the United States. To foster those opportunities, the president will propose billions of dollars in economic help for Egypt and Tunisia as they set up governments to replace their autocratic leaders, both of whom were overthrown earlier this year.
In Cairo, Obama sought to repair relations with the 1.5 billion followers of Islam across the world which had been strained in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. In his speech at the State Department today, the president will urge the region's people to view the violence and extremism represented by bin Laden as a relic of the past that undermined basic human rights as well as economic and political stability.
"Change can be unsettling," Carney said this week. It is something in this case to be embraced because the opportunity is there to help shape a better future for the region and for the world."
At the same time, there is plenty for Obama to clarify in his speech, from his administration's varied responses to government crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters in the region to its plans for progress in Mideast peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
"The question for the president is can he inject a certain measure of consistency and intellectual heft into a policy that has been viewed by some as a big game of Whack-A-Mole?" asks former Mideast peace negotiator Aaron David Miller.
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