Obama in Cairo: Ich Bin Ein Muslimer

clipped from www.firstthings.com Our empathy President is now our theologian-in-chief. He has gone to Cairo like President Kennedy went to Berlin, to make a political point about human solidarity. Kennedy, of course, was expressing solidarity with West Germany shortly after the Soviet backed communist regime in East Germany erected the Berlin Wall. Years later President Reagan went to Berlin to tell the Soviets, “Tear down this wall!” Obama has gone to Cairo with something more like a civis Romanus sum in mind rather than a challenge to a repressive regime. The new Roman order, however, is not led by any one country. It is founded in tolerance and understanding, beginning with tolerance for Muslims and understanding for their way of life. Obama went to Cairo to console, not challenge. Under Obama, the son of a Muslim, we are all Muslims now. The first step in this remarkable analysis is to blame tensions between the United States and Muslims on colonialism and the Cold War.