Meet the New Tone, Same as the Old Tone

The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

Meet the New Tone, Same as the Old Tone
“In an interview with one of the Middle East’s major broadcasters, President Barack Obama struck a conciliatory tone toward the Islamic world, saying he wanted to persuade Muslims that ‘the Americans are not your enemy,’ “ the New York Times reports. “The interview with Al Arabiya, an Arabic-language news channel based in Dubai, signaled a shift–in style and manner at least–from the Bush administration.”

Obama also addressed Muslims directly, saying, “We respect your faith. It’s practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful.” Can you imagine George W. Bush saying anything like that?

Oh wait, sorry, Homer nods: That last quote was from Bush’s speech on Sept. 20, 2001.

Still, the pace of change is just dizzying! OK, so it’s not so much what Obama said, but where he said it. Bush would never have given an interview to Al Aribiya.

Darn it, we messed up again! The Associated Press reports that “Obama’s choice of Al-Arabiya network, which is owned by a Saudi businessman, follows the lead of the Bush administration, which gave several presidential interviews to that news channel.”

Even so, change is all around us! As the AP notes, the new president’s policies are completely different:

Obama’s predecessor, former President George W. Bush, launched wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which prompted a massive backlash against the U.S. in the Muslim world.

Bush just went around launching wars for no reason! It’s not as if these wars were provoked by an attack on America or an invasion of a neighboring country, or else the AP would have mentioned it. Obama, by contrast, just wants to give peace a chance, as another Associated Press dispatch notes:

Obama is expected to double the number of American troops in Afghanistan this year, as the country becomes one of his foreign policy priorities.

The Washington Post reports that “the change in Washington appears to have rattled al-Qaeda’s leaders, some of whom are scrambling to convince the faithful that Obama and Bush are essentially the same.” Good luck with that, guys!

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