The Empire Page

          Like him or not, President Obama is taking the high ground in our struggle with the Muslim world. This will not be an easy task given the tremendous damage that occurred in the last administration. Even if one of many kids in the sandbox throws sand in your eyes, retaliating against all of the other kids in the sandbox is not going to help the situation from escalating, especially if only one of the kids from across the block is responsible for throwing the sand in the first place.

          Only fools deal in absolutes. For President Bush and Vice President Cheney to take actions that were viewed by the Muslim world that all Muslims are our enemies, couldn’t have been a worse strategy to take; unless their only goal was to appease the Republicans in the far right. Any intelligent person knows that not all Muslims are our enemies.

          Of course, the press is also a major contributor to the escalation of this feeling against the Muslims. Shame on Fox News, and other news agencies of that ilk.  Thank goodness for a voice of reason. Battles will never de-escalate if someone doesn’t act reasonably. Now, I do not mean that we should compromise our position as a nation that is going to protect itself from aggressive actions against our country and its citizens; or to protect countries that don’t have the ability to protect themselves from foreign aggression.

          We should continue to do what Teddy Roosevelt said we should do, “Speak softly, but carry a big stick”. My belief is that is exactly what President Obama is going to do on his trip to the Middle East. A dialogue needs to take place with the Middle Eastern countries that says that we are not against them or their religious beliefs and that we simply want to co-exist in the sandbox.