Barack Obama Speaks to Muslims in Cairo

Barack Obama delivers a convincing speech

to Muslims around the world

In a rousing speech on Thursday June 4th Barack Obama used the magnifying force of the American presidency, his own charisma and a podium at the heart of the Arab world to address the concerns of the world's 1.4 billion Muslims. Speaking at Cairo University, he sought to project an openness to Islam, a sense of shared values, support for Muslim aspirations and a determination to use American power to help fix the problems that most trouble them. It won praise as a superb oratorical performance.

"The cycle of suspicion and discord must end," Mr Obama declared, to enthusiastic applause. "I have come to seek a new beginning, based on co-operation and respect." Punctuated with quotations from the Koran, the speech ranged from pressing issues such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran's nuclear ambitions to principles such as democracy and women's rights. It culminated in a vision of a more tolerant and peaceful world.

The American president did not shy away from chiding some Muslims for their reluctance to condemn violent extremism or the tendency to measure their own faith by rejection of another. He made a strong pitch for America's own vision of religious freedom, and called for understanding of the historical suffering of Jews. Castigating the denial of the Nazi Holocaust as "baseless, ignorant and hateful", he took an indirect swipe at Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But he also evoked Palestinians' suffering, describing their situation as "intolerable". He forthrightly repeated his demand for an end to Jewish colonisation of Palestinian territory....

Mr Obama has addressed Muslims before. He granted his first interview as president to an Arab satellite channel, beamed a warm message to Iranians Broadly speaking, and despite the latest internet tirades of Osama bin Laden, most Muslims recognise the sincerity of Mr Obama's effort to extricate America from Iraq—and its complexity. More grudgingly, they also understand his quandary in Afghanistan. The one issue where Muslim opinion converges with a demand for a change in America's approach is Palestine. Here, arguably, no American action can be expected fully to assuage Muslim and Arab grievances fast, partly because of what Mr Obama described as America's "unbreakable bond" with Israel and partly because half of the Palestinians' divided polity is run by Hamas, an Islamist group still seen as anathema to America. But Muslims are immensely cheered by the fact that Israelis are plainly rattled by Mr Obama's pressure over the issue of Jewish settlement on occupied land.

Mr Obama's determination to set America's relations with Muslims on a new footing will bring hope across the Middle East and farther afield. The difficulty now lies in translating the new goodwill into action, not just by America, but by its Arab and Muslim allies.

---"Let's be friends: Barack Obama speaks in Cairo," The Economist (6.04.09)

You've probably heard this speech by President Obama. But if you haven't, you should find it on the internet and listen. In the meantime, this article in The Economist will provide context, reaction, and what should come next. It is hard not to be proud and impressed with the amazingly ambitious and idealistic agenda of this remarkable young president--and the impressive start he has made on so many fronts simultaneously. And his outreach to the Muslim world and approach to the troubling issues of the Middle East is as uplifting, inviting and practical as any of them. He continues to inspire hope and commitment to change--at home, yes, but now around the world.

http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13788639&fsrc=nwl