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The Atlantic Wire already brought you a roundup of general and domestic reaction to Obama's Middle East speech yesterday. But as with Obama's big speech in Cairo two years ago, the address was theoretically directed not at America, but at the Arab world, the site of the recent Arab Spring uprisings and much current unrest. How did this target audience take it? Here's a quick look at the coverage and reaction from Arabic-language media the day after. The "instant view" offered by Reuters, a roundup of quotes from various specialists and public figures, was mixed, but the day-after analysis seems to be that the president gets a B at best.
The Palestinian Al-Ayyam, based out of Ramallah, understandably opens its Friday issue focusing on the parts of the speech relevant to Palestine, though the Arab Spring was Obama's main focus:
"We can say that the content of Obama's speech was expected," writes Ghassan Charbel at Al Hayat, reviewing Obama's "promises of economic support for the emerging democracies in Tunisia and Egypt," his anti-Qaddafi stance, and so forth. He continues, "It is clear that Obama was outlining missions in several directions with varying [degrees of] clarity and urgency. Certainly the United States is trying to build a policy in consideration of the winds of change in the Middle East. And what is most important in the current American president is his capacity to work with Europe and grasp the sensitivities of Russia and China, who have received instructions from him to take this seriously."