Reply to comment

President Obama's speech given in Cairo last week addressed a number of very important issues.  He discussed radical extremism, the rights and responsibilities of nations when it comes to nuclear weapons, religious freedom and women's rights; all of which are crucial and critical to today's global agenda and the foreign policy of the United States. Many of these issues have been overlooked in the past and need attention. He emphasized that we must look to build a new future and cannot chose to be bound by the past.  He encouraged interfaith dialogue as well as billions of dollars in social aid for the betterment of many Muslim countries.   He plans to champion the fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear as long as that same principle applies to the Muslim perception of America. Washington Post

"And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear. But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known."

The President has set a number of very worthy, yet lofty goals for the United States and, as we see from this excerpt, for the Muslim world as well.  I am very interested to see how each of these topics will be addressed and the way in which both sides will participate in order to turn the president's goals into reality.