A recurring theme in Obama’s speeches cropped up again in his remarks on the Middle East:

. . . Two years ago in Cairo, I began to broaden our engagement based upon mutual interests and mutual respect.
. . . Our support for these principles is not a secondary interest — today I am making it clear that it is a top priority that must be translated into concrete actions, and supported by all of the diplomatic, economic and strategic tools at our disposal.
. . . As I said when the United States joined an international coalition to intervene, we cannot prevent every injustice perpetrated by a regime against its people, and we have learned from our experience in Iraq just how costly and difficult it is to impose regime change by force — no matter how well-intended it may be.
. . . We will continue to make good on the commitments that I made in Cairo — to build networks of entrepreneurs, and expand exchanges in education; to foster cooperation in science and technology, and combat disease.
. . . My Administration has worked with the parties and the international community for over two years to end this conflict, yet expectations have gone unmet. Israeli settlement activity continues. Palestinians have walked away from talks.
. . . Indeed, there are those who argue that with all the change and uncertainty in the region, it is simply not possible to move forward. I disagree.
. . . And I would not be standing here today unless past generations turned to the moral force of non-violence as a way to perfect our union — organizing, marching, and protesting peacefully together to make real those words that declared our nation: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.”

No wonder the Twitter hashtag for Obama’s remarks is “#mespeech.”

Of course, if I had to summarize the speech in just one of its sentences, it would be “We must proceed with a sense of humility.”

Think back to Obama’s speech in Cairo:

I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith. As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam.

In the end, Obama’s lifetime of experience in the Muslim world appears to have been pretty moot for relations between the United States and the Islamic world, no?