The President Meets Islam

Barack Obama's long-awaited speech to the Muslim world delivered on the promises of his advisers. It was neither dramatic nor filled with romantic pledges. He tackled thorny issues, but only to a point. (Story continued below...)

Coming just days after Osama Bin Laden released a new message in which he accused the president of inflaming tensions with the Muslim world, Obama's speech, entitled "A New Beginning," focused on the need for global cooperation in the advancement of peace. "This cycle of suspicion and discord must end," Obama said emphatically. And later, "as the Holy Koran tells us, "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth." That is what I will try to do —to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart."

The speech was streamed live over the Internet on the White House Website and on TV networks worldwide. Capitalizing on their tech-savvy operation, the administration organized for alerts and excerpts to be texted to supporters  in four languages—Persian, Urdu, Arabic and English - and links were sent out via Facebook and MySpace. Supporters could text their reactions back to the White House, and some will be posted on the White House blog.

That depth of preparation could be seen in the hours before the president delivered his address. The logistics of organizing an event like this one are mind boggling to say the least. While the White House was reluctant to give out planning details for security reasons, the scale of the undertaking was evident everywhere.

Every step of a president's international trip is carefully choreographed. The result, when you are traveling in his entourage, is that the experience feels disconnected from reality. I'd never been to Egypt and when I leave, it will hardly feel as though I really saw this ancient land. The view from the Presidential motorcade it's extremely rarefied. We see manicured gardens and gilded palaces behind imposing iron gates. We speed past the poorer parts of town, whisked from one privileged site to another. The grit, the smells, the spontaneous color and voices – in short, the life of the city—is hidden away, with only carefully chosen aspects funneled into the President's view.

One striking difference between Egypt and others I've visited while following the President is the distinct lack of ordinary well-wishers. When the President visits a U.S. city, or even during his trips to Europe, Mexico and Trinidad, the motorcade route is usually lined with residents eager to catch a glimpse of Obama. Often carrying signs or waving flags, they cheer wildly when he passes. But here, the city is in virtual shutdown. Residents were encouraged to stay home and watch the speech on TV. Many grumbled about the enormous disruption to the usually vibrant city, which is home to 18 million people. Even on arrival at the University, the campus seemed eerily quiet—no rowdy student fans in sight. The motorcade route was blocked entirely to traffic, and onlookers are held back behind human barricades many blocks away. The streets were lined with guards, standing at attention with ten or so feet between them. They faced away from the motorcade, rather than towards it, keeping alert for signs of trouble. The resulting visual was a jarring one: Miles of empty road stretching out before speeding vans, peppered with the straight backs of armed servicemen.

In the speech, Obama touched on his own biography only briefly before outlining a series of challenges to be overcome. References to Islam were well received by the audience. Some of his biggest applause lines came when he mentioned specific tenets of the faith. Twice audience members yelled "I love you" to the President. But there was a palpable silence as the President addressed perhaps the most difficult issue before him—Middle East peace. "Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America's founding," he said. "It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is surrendered."

But tension soon gave way to approval and applause when President called on Israel to end settlements and emphatically acknowledged Palestine's need for security and prosperity. A section of the speech devoted to women's rights was all well received, with women in the audience cheering.