Letter: Obama and the Arab Spring

I would like to connect the dots from Victor Hugo to the Arab Spring to Barack Obama ["Egypt's military rebuffed," News, Nov. 23].

Hugo said, "Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come." And so it appears that the idea of democracy has come to the Arab world. What is even more fascinating about unstoppable change is trying to discover the impetus for it. What planted the seed to start that idea of the democratic ideal and gave it the hope of growing roots?

Was it a single event like an inspirational commencement speech? If it was, the speaker would have to be an exceptional person -- someone who could speak clearly and intelligently, but more than that, someone who could actually stand up as a real example of dynamic and dramatic change.

That person would have to be someone who could relate to Muslims in a special way, someone who might actually have some Islamic family background to draw upon. And it would be even better if the person could claim some African heritage. If a guy like that got up to say something smart like "this is a new beginning," I bet the Muslim world would listen.

If he were really smart, he would make a speech like that in Egypt, the heart of the intellectual Arabic world. Gee, I wonder if anything like that has happened fairly recently. I have a feeling that something like that really started this whole Arab Spring.

Let me see what I can find. A Washington Post story in Newsday on June 5, 2009, reported: "President Barack Obama, calling for 'a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world,' said in a widely watched address from Cairo yesterday that the 'cycle of suspicion and discord must end.' "

Michael Kusen, Maspeth