All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Though progress toward a mideast peace agreement may be more elusive than getting a health care plan through Congress, President Obama sees "movement in the right direction."

"If all sides are willing to move off the rut that we're currently in, then I think there is an extraordinary opportunity to make real progress," said Mr. Obama.

In an Oval Office photo-op at the end of a meeting with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, Mr. Obama said he hopes for movement by the Israelis, the Palestinians and other Arab states.

"Everybody is going to have to take steps, everybody is going to have to take some risks," said Mr. Obama. He said an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is going to require a lot of hard work, but he said the U.S. "is committed to being a partner in this process."

He said his administration will devote "time, energy and resources" to bring about a mideast peace deal.

Mr. Obama views Egypt's Mubarak as in important participant in the process.

Speaking in Arabic, Mubarak said the Palestinians are the "pivotal issue" in the Middle East. That problem has defied resolution for 60 years, he said, and if it's not resolved now, it will trigger more mideast violence. Mubarak said he supports U.S. efforts to find a solution.

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President Obama and Vice President Biden will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing in the morning. Mr. Obama will then receive the Economic Daily Briefing and meet with senior advisers.

Later, Mr. Obama will hold a one-on-one meeting with President Mubarak of Egypt in the Oval Office. He will then hold an expanded meeting with Mubarak, followed by a working lunch.

In the afternoon, Mr. Obama will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He will then meet with the Vice President.

Late in the afternoon, Mr. Obama will meet with former President Bill Clinton in the Situation Room.

Here's the full schedule from the White House (all times Eastern):

9:30AM: President Obama and Vice President Biden receive the Presidential Daily Briefing

9:50AM: President Obama receives the Economic Daily Briefing

10:30AM: President Obama meets with senior advisers

11:10AM: President Obama holds one-on-one meeting with President Mubarak of Egypt

11:30AM: President Obama holds expanded meeting with President Mubarak of Egypt

12:30PM: President Obama hosts working lunch with President Mubarak of Egypt

1:30PM: President Obama meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

2:30PM: President Obama meets with Vice President Biden

4:00PM: President Obama meets with former President Bill Clinton

In Saudi Arabia, where President Obama arrived Wednesday morning, the legal system is based on Sharia, or Islamic law. It is illegal to spend time alone with someone of the opposite sex to whom you are not related, to drink, to smoke, or to engage in other behaviors deemed immoral. There is little freedom of expression and no freedom of religion. The media is state-controlled. The State Department has reported that religious police "intimidate, abuse, and detain citizens and foreigners" and has also reported on the "denial of public trials and lack of due process in the judicial system." Men have extensive power over women, who cannot drive vehicles or work without permission. Abuse of migrant workers is common, and torture is "widespread and committed with impunity," according to Amnesty International. One possible punishment for theft is amputation. Homosexuality, blasphemy, "witchcraft" and some other non-violent offenses are punishable by death.

In Egypt, where the president speaks Thursday, Emergency Law was recently extended. According to Human Rights Watch, that means authorities can "detain persons arbitrarily and try them in special security courts that do not meet international fair trial standards." Freedom of expression, religion and assembly are limited. Last year, according to the State Department, "security forces used unwarranted lethal force and tortured and abused prisoners and detainees," largely without consequences. During President Hosni Mubarak's 28 years in power, dissidents have been harassed and imprisoned. Student political groups are prohibited at the university where Mr. Obama plans to speak, and deans are chosen by the administration; one student blogger was recently jailed for two months for "public agitation."

When he arrived in Saudi Arabia, President Obama did not publicly discuss human rights issues. Of the country's head of state, King Abdullah, he said this: "I've been struck by his wisdom and his graciousness." The White House said following a private meeting that the two men discussed "a wide range of issues," including energy and Middle East peace, but human rights abuses was not listed among them.

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- The White House has launched a sweeping plan to harness the ever-growing worldwide reach of social networks to promote President Obama's major speech to the Muslim world tomorrow in Cairo. It is an unprecedented effort to market a presidential address.

Top officials who briefed reporters during the president's stop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia describe a "high profile" strategy to spread Mr. Obama's message. Spokesman Robert Gibbs described a "fairly sophisticated outreach."

The strategy includes using social networking pages that will allow people to monitor and comment on the speech. Speech excerpts and full transcripts will be posted. The administration will turn to Facebook, My Space and Twitter. A spokesman says Facebook is the largest social network in the Muslim world with nearly 20 million users.

The administration will also use a social network that is popular in South Asia.

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A roundup of news, schedules, and key stories from CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

**President Obama arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia just after 7:30am ET...

**Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor continues meeting with Senators; Newt Gingrich says his labeling of her as "racist" was "too strong and direct"...

**Gov. Pawlenty's retirement announcement raises speculation about his political future...

PRESIDENT'S OVERSEAS TRIP: "President Barack Obama began his latest bid to open a dialogue with the Muslim world by paying a call Wednesday on Saudi King Abdullah, guardian of Islam's sacred sites in Mecca and Medina," reports the Associated Press' Mark S. Smith.

"The monarch of Saudi Arabia greeted Obama at Riyadh's main airport with a ceremony when the new U.S. president arrived after an overnight flight from Washington. ... Perched on ornate chairs behind a flower arrangement, Obama and Abdullah then chatted briefly in public and shook hands, with cameras capturing the scene. Then, they retreated to hold private talks on a range of issues."

Regarding Mr. Obama's speech in Cairo tomorrow, writes the Washington Post's Anthony Shadid, "he will face the legacy of names like Haditha, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, places that have become more symbol than geography over nearly a decade of perhaps the most traumatic chapter in America's relationship with the Muslim world.

"More than any other president in a generation, Obama enjoys a reservoir of goodwill in the region. His father was Muslim. His outreach in an interview with an Arabic satellite channel, a speech to Turkey's parliament and an address to Iranians on the Persian New Year have inclined many to listen. Just as important, he is not George W. Bush.

"But Obama will still encounter a landscape in which two realities often seem to be at work, shaped by those symbols."

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President Barack Obama will give a major speech on U.S. relations with the Muslim world from Egypt next month, the White House said Friday.

Mr. Obama had promised during his presidential campaign to give such an address from a Muslim state within the first months of his presidency.

The speech will take place on June 4, but the exact location within Egypt from which it will be delivered has yet to be determined, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

"I think in many ways, this is the heart of the Arab world," Gibbs said. He added, however, that the address is intended for the entire Muslim world, not simply Arab Muslims. It is part of Mr. Obama's continuing effort to reach out to Muslims, as he did in a speech he gave in Turkey last month.

The trip will nevertheless put a spotlight on Mr. Obama's approach to addressing human rights issues in Egypt. After then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a speech in Cairo in 2005 calling for democratic reforms in the country, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak turned a cold shoulder to the Bush administration. Gibbs said the president has issues of democracy and human rights on his mind and that they will be discussed further on this trip.

Gibbs played down the relationship between Mr. Obama and Mubarak and emphasized the two country's common goal of fighting extremism.

"In many ways, this isn't a speech to leaders," he said. "This is a speech to many, many people ...to demonstrate how we can work together to ensure the safety and security...of the children of this country and of the Muslim world."

During his overseas travel next month, the president will visit Germany and France in addition to Egypt, Gibbs said.

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