Robinson: Bookends of the Obama presidency

Barack Obama began his presidency with a call for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world." He will end it as a reluctant but unapologetic warrior, using military force to smash Islamic extremists and the "network of death" they planted at the heart of the Middle East.

The speech Obama gave in Cairo in 2009 and the address he gave at the United Nations last week can be seen as bookends. In the months after his election, Obama hoped to be remembered as the president who forged a new peace between the Western and Islamic worlds. Now, while not completely abandoning that hope, Obama says there first must be war against jihadist "killers" who understand no language but "the language of force."

The passages of Obama's UN address dealing with the horrors committed by the Islamic State were strikingly vivid, especially in light of reports that the president wrote much of the speech himself.

"Mothers, sisters, daughters have been subjected to rape as a weapon of war. Innocent children have been gunned down. . . . Religious minorities have been starved to death," he said. "In the most horrific crimes imaginable, innocent human beings have been beheaded, with videos of the atrocity distributed to shock the conscience of the world."

The next lines echoed the Manichaean worldview we so often heard from George W. Bush: "No God condones this terror. . . . There can be no reasoning -- no negotiation -- with this brand of evil."

Obama effectively committed the remainder of his term to waging war against jihadist extremism on multiple fronts.

He challenged Muslim countries to fight jihadism militarily and ideologically. "It's time to end the hypocrisy of those who accumulate wealth through the global economy and then siphon funds to those who teach children to tear it down."

His audience of world leaders understood the subtext: It is not enough for nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar to join the U.S.-led military coalition against the Islamic State. They must cease funding the spread of radical theology and stop supporting Islamist militias.

The Cairo speech and the UN address sounded many of the same themes, but there was a marked difference in tone. Five years ago, Obama invited Muslim political and religious leaders to join him in combating violent extremism. Now he demanded they do so.

He would have grounds to argue that if his approach has changed, it is because the world has changed. The Arab Spring unleashed forces long suppressed by authoritarian regimes. Among these were religious political movements and long-buried passions stemming from the Sunni-Shiite divide.

But Obama has changed, too. In Cairo, he listed the sources of friction between the West and the Muslim world; ranked second, right after violent extremism, was the unresolved conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. At the UN, while making clear that the United States still supports a two-state solution, Obama said "the situation in Iraq and Syria and Libya should cure anybody of the illusion that the Arab-Israeli conflict is the main source of problems in the region."

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Before even turning to the Middle East, the president had harsh words for Russia's actions in Ukraine. He promised to "impose a cost on Russia for aggression" and added that "we call upon others to join us on the right side of history."

Obama mentioned the racial tensions in Ferguson, Missouri, as an illustration of how the United States airs and confronts its problems. It was as if he were challenging the assembled leaders to do the same.

It was one of the most important speeches of the Obama presidency. So far, that is.