Kenneth Weisbrode is a historian at the European University Institute in Florence.

As Barack Obama prepares to travel to Indonesia, where he spent much of his childhood, Muslims have staged rallies across the country to protest against his visit. Organized by Muslim group Hizbut Tahrir, they drew around 20,000 people. "We don't see the differences between Obama and Bush, they both oppress Muslims, they both have blood on their hands," said a spokesman for the group. As Sahil Mahtani and Kenneth Weisbrode report, Indonesians regard the president with mixed feelings, despite the time he spent there as a boy.