Obama’s Middle East Speech Has Many American Audiences

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR Thursday’s speech by President Obama on the upheaval in the Middle East is aimed at a global audience. But it will also play out in a domestic and political — context as Mr. Obama seeks a second term in the White House.Since taking office, Mr. Obama has sought to strike a balance between reaching out to the Muslim world while also combating terrorism and pushing for progress toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The as-yet unfulfilled promise of that approach, which he described in a speech in Cairo in 2009, helped win him the Nobel Peace Prize early in his presidency. But the effort to construct a cohesive...

Read more »