Master of rapport skills?
Reader comment on item: Islam in Obama's Cairo Speech

Submitted by Laura McGaffey (United States), Jul 6, 2009 at 16:18

In business Obama would be lauded for his ability to address his audiences based on their makeup. For instance, in this case, play down the Jews and play up his Muslim childhood (using his middle name, etc.) to gain rapport, attention and cooperation in some negotiation.

In politics and the leading of a nation, Obama has the responsibility to NOT play these "games" of distortion/manipulation when it is so unclear what the "end game" is and when he's making these statements publicly. He may have been playing to the Muslims in the audience but non-Muslims (and non-Christians and non-Jews) all over the world heard his comments and he apparently didn't care about the impact of his words on those people. That's significant, IMHO.

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