He then made an observation that I came to realize was representative of his bleakest, most visceral understanding of the Middle East today—not the sort of understanding that a White House still oriented around themes of hope and change might choose to advertise. “If we’re not talking to them,” he said, referring to young Asians and Africans and Latin Americans, “because the only thing we’re doing is figuring out how to destroy or cordon off or control the malicious, nihilistic, violent parts of humanity, then we’re missing the boat.”
I don't quite get that. Why that is representative of Obama's view of the Middle East and why that is so bleak. Well, I guess, "malicious, nihilistic, violent," that's the whole Middle East, okay, that's bleak. I don't quite get that still.
