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Michael appears on Campbell Brown's program to discuss the speech; other panelists include Bill Bennett, Fran Townsend, and NPR's John Ridley. Bennett insists that Obama said nothing new today, which is a delusion of such high magnitude as to be almost painful; however, the far-right's ability to self-delude has been so impressive over the past eight years that it really fails to evoke much more than an eyeroll anymore. Thankfully, Michael was there for the reality check.
CAMPBELL
BROWN: Now, time for our third big question of the
night. Should al Qaeda be more afraid of Obama than
Bush? And back to talk about that, John Ridley and
Bill Bennett once again. Also joined by CNN
international correspondent Michael Ware and Fran
Townsend, also back with us as well.
Michael, let me start with you. No coincidence
probably that bin Laden releases a tape...
MICHAL WARE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, not
at all.
BROWN: ... just as he's heading toward the region.
Who do you think --
WARE: Yes, cheap PR stunt, you know.
BROWN: Whose message do you think is resonating right
now more with the Arab street this week?
WARE: Well, I certainly think that without doubt
President Obama has the ball in his court right now.
I mean, the Arab street is hungry for something new.
Now, whether this is going to be enough, only time
will tell.
As we've been saying, this was a landmark speech. It
was telling in its oratory and in its format. But is
it going to be backed up by action? That's what the
Arab street is waiting for. And if it's not, then
we're going to be left with what we are.
We need to see President Obama take real action, for
example, in the Arab mind on Israel. Because if there
is no action there, then there's no difference to
them between a President Bush and a President Obama,
and don't forget in the Arab mind, President Obama
may be the good guy that he is, but to many on the
ground, it's still the military and the CIA that runs
the show. So we need to see real action before we
determine who wins this debate.
BROWN: So to that point, we all analyzed his speech
earlier. Talk about the action part of it. What has
to happen now, Fran, in your view, for this to go to
the next level?
FRAN TOWNSEND, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER:
Well, we've heard President Obama again talk about
changing interrogation techniques and changing
Guantanamo, closing Guantanamo, but we don't hear --
he hasn't even told his own party, he hasn't told
Congress the details of that. We're still waiting for
the details. And to Michael's point, we don't
understand how he's going to implement that.
You know, the fascinating thing -- you asked about
bin Laden's statement, the fascinating thing about
that is he's angry and accuses President Obama of
following the policies of the prior administration.
That's really a reference to the Predator strikes and
the support of Pakistan in the tribal areas.
That ought to be good news to the American people.
We're talking about the reaction in the Arab world.
The American people ought to feel pretty good that
we've maintained an aggressive posture and that that,
frankly, makes Osama bin Laden mad.
BROWN: Bill?
BILL BENNETT, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I don't know.
George Bush can't do much to him right now. He
doesn't have Fran Townsend anymore and he isn't in
office. But, you know, Osama bin Laden declares war
on the United States no matter who's president.
That's, you know, twice when Bill Clinton was in
office.
Flannery O'Connor said once, "I hate to say I find
tedious what's giving so much exhilaration." But I
found the speech tedious. I don't know how you say
it's landmark until we see what comes of it. It's a
speech George Bush could have given in all its
particulars.
WARE: But he never did.
BENNETT: Yes, he did. He sure did.
WARE: Could have, would have, should have.
BENNETT: And he did. He did.
TOWNSEND: He did.
BENNETT: He gave a speech in Egypt. By the way, there
is still an interrogation going on in Egypt, which
this administration supports.
WARE: Of course. But it's not rendition.
BROWN: So what policies are you looking for? I mean,
what do you want to see him do?
BENNETT: Well, first of all, I'm basically pleased
with what he's doing. Despite all this rhetoric, he
is carrying on the war in Iraq. He is pumping the
troops in Afghanistan. He is supporting the
Pakistanis against the Taliban. Good stuff.
Now if George Bush does it, it's terrible. But when
he does it, they love it. Fine with me.
BROWN: Well, explain the difference.
WARE: But it's also a matter of tone.
BENNETT: Certainly, they love his tone. They love his
tone better, but I like the action.
WARE: It's delivery. I think it's part of the
schtick.
BROWN: Is it about more than tone?
JOHN RIDLEY, NPR CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I disagree. I
don't think it was a glib speech. I do agree that it
was very short on specifics. I don't think that's
unusual for President Obama.
WARE: Yes, but did we expect details? No.
RIDLEY: It's a first stage speech but I will say this
-- you know, the question is, should they fear former
President Bush or Bush when he was in office or
Obama? The reality is they are fearing a united
front. And that's what has got to happen here is, is
the president now with all that he's facing, can he
get not just America, not just the world, but
specifically the Arabs behind?
I think he said some things that can move the
moderates in that direction. I don't think it's an
either/or opposition. Can he get the united front to
help on the war on terror?
BENNETT: If he can get more people behind him because
they like him better and they like his name better
and they like his approach better, even though he's
saying essentially the same thing as George Bush,
that's fine with me.
BROWN: But why dismiss that? I mean, the fact that
here's a guy who looks like them, who has a name like
them, that means something.
BENNETT: Well, fine, that's good. But what will it
come to? That is, will all of a sudden people say, by
gosh, you're right and I hope you do stay in Iraq
until things are safe. And we support you sending
more troops into Afghanistan. If they say that, then
fine. Otherwise, it's just a feel good. Let's wait
and see.
TOWNSEND: Campbell, I think it can't be lost on
people, including in the Arab world, he did make much
of his middle name Barack Hussein Obama in his speech
today.
BROWN: Right.
TOWNSEND: Do you think that the Arab world, it was
lost on them that he refused to use his middle name
in his inauguration, he refused to use it during the
campaign?
WARE: No, I think they're living in the now. I think
you'll find they're living in the now.
TOWNSEND: Well, I don't think so.
RIDLEY: I don't know that he could use his middle
name. I don't think he didn't want to. I think he was
pushed to a place where he couldn't use it.
WARE: Yeah, horses for courses. Listen, after
President Bush, I'm sorry, in the Middle East,
America's name was less than mud. I'm sorry. You are
loathed and despised even by the moderates who are
desperate to support you, and to give them anything
to cling on to --
(CROSSTALK)
TOWNSEND: Wait a minute.
BENNETT: You were there.
WARE: Yes.
BENNETT: But it had to make some difference to people
in Iraq and Afghanistan. George Bush liberated 40
million or 50 million of them.
TOWNSEND: Thank you.
BENNETT: Barack Obama has liberated none of them.
WARE: That's not how they see it. He brought tyranny
and occupation. He brought Abu Ghraib.
BENNETT: They want to go back.
WARE: He brought dead children --
BENNETT: They want to go back.
WARE: No, they're saying, that's what he brought.
BENNETT: They want to go back. They don't want
democracy.
WARE: As the Iraqis have long said...
BENNETT: Well, you guys are saying what they think.
WARE: ... if this is democracy, we want to take
tyranny.
I think -- I think it's going to take some deft
footwork by a new administration to reshape that
thinking. But at the end of the day, they need to
deliver where previous administrations haven't and
that's in Israel and Palestine. And that we still
haven't seen any real movement in Afghanistan.
BENNETT: I hope not.
WARE: What's happening in Pakistan? There's the
answer. Therein lies the solution.
BROWN: We've got 30 seconds.
WARE: And we've yet to see real --
BENNETT: Well, again, we shall see what he does.
WARE: Exactly. I'm yet to believe.
BENNETT: But again, the basic outlines of the policy
have not changed, have they?
WARE: Well --
BENNETT: I mean, if you talk about US policy toward
Iraq, toward Afghanistan, toward Pakistan...
BROWN: All right.
BENNETT: ... it hasn't changed.
BROWN: And we will -- we will --
WARE: Obviously, Iran --
BENNETT: A smiley face on it.
WARE: To Iran it certainly has and Iraq is being
changed.
BROWN: To be continued. To be continued. A great
panel, guys. Thanks very much. Appreciate
it.