Obama: 'Indonesia is Part of Me'

"Indonesia is part of me."

Obama's statement isn't exactly "Ich bin ein Berliner."

Obama's outreach is very personal, far more personal than President John F. Kennedy's remarks spoken in solidarity with Berliners and against the oppression of the Soviet Union.

Obama speaks for himself and about himself. When he says "Indonesia is part of me," he's not speaking as America's president or the leader of the Free World.

That remark is egocentric. He's speaking as Barry, son of Indonesia. In the scheme of things, it's a small statement. It starts and stops with him and him alone.
From the Associated Press:

Declaring that "Indonesia is part of me," President Barack Obama issued a strikingly personal appeal to the Muslim world to join the West in an unrelenting battle to defeat al-Qaida and violent extremism.

After his speech in Jakarta, Obama flew to South Korea and a meeting of the Group of 20 major economic powers in Seoul.

In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, a place where he spent several years as a boy, Obama on Wednesday acknowledged the fraying that remains in U.S.-Islamic relations despite his best efforts at repair. He urged both sides to look beyond "suspicion and mistrust" to forge common ground against terrorism.

Obama praised this nation of islands for progress in rooting out terrorists and combatting violent extremism, and he resurrected a theme he sounded last year during visits to Turkey and Egypt: "I have made it clear that America is not and never will be at war with Islam. ... Those who want to build must not cede ground to terrorists who seek to destroy."

Returning to Indonesia for the first time since 1992, Obama beamed with obvious pride as he delivered what perhaps was the most deeply personal speech of his presidency, including many phrases and words in Indonesian.

"Let me begin with a simple statement: Indonesia is part of me," he said in the language, cheering the audience of more than 6,000 mostly young people at the University of Indonesia.

From the New York Times:

Mixing the political and personal, President Obama praised Indonesia’s history of religious tolerance and its commitment to democracy on Wednesday morning as he sought to improve the United States’ relations with the wider Muslim world.

In a 30-minute speech at the University of Indonesia here, Mr. Obama easily won over an audience of 6,500 mostly young Indonesians by recalling the years he spent here as a boy and skillfully using several Indonesian expressions. Mr. Obama referred several times to his Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, who, he said, had taught him about the openness of Indonesian culture.

Delivering the much-anticipated speech just before departing for Seoul, South Korea, Mr. Obama also sought to elaborate on values shared by the United States and Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population. He cited the countries’ democratic systems and diversity, in remarks that sought to both find common ground with a majority-Muslim nation and draw a contrast with China.

“I said then, and I will repeat now, that no single speech can eradicate years of mistrust,” Mr. Obama said. “But I believed then, and I believe today, that we do have a choice. We can choose to be defined by our differences, and give in to a future of suspicion and mistrust. Or we can choose to do the hard work of forging common ground, and commit ourselves to the steady pursuit of progress.”

Muslim leaders here said that Mr. Obama’s comments on Indonesia would help deepen bilateral ties. But they said that the speech would do little to further the president’s stated goal of improving relations with the Muslim world, a process that he began with speeches in Egypt and Turkey last year.

“President Obama didn’t offer any new major points,” said Azyumardi Azra, a prominent Muslim thinker and the director of the graduate school at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University. “There is no breakthrough, for example, to accelerate a peaceful resolution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.”

It's a nice try, but I don't think Obama is winning over terrorists.

If he thinks his connections to the Muslim world will cause the enemies of freedom to rethink their "death to America" stance, he's being incredibly naive.

Will his Indonesian boyhood help convince some in the country to rise up against the terrorists because they've been charmed by Obama?

I doubt it. The conflict can't be pacified because Obama spent several years as a child in Indonesia.

Would it be wonderful if Obama's address in Indonesia had the global historical significance of JFK's speech in Berlin?

Yes.

But Obama's discussion of his personal history doesn't have the weight of Kennedy's policy statement, his declaration of America's commitment to the cause of freedom.

Kennedy spoke as a defender of freedom, not as an apologist for the United States.

Big difference.