All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

It was inevitable that people would start comparing President Obama to great statesmen and leaders of the past who have tried bring about peace on Earth, but Newsweek's Evan Thomas has gone over the top. Following Mr. Obama's speech in Cairo, Thomas spoke with Chris Matthews on MSNBC's "Hardball," contrasting Mr. Obama with President Reagan and comparing the current commander-in-chief to God:

"Well, we were the good guys in 1984, it felt that way. It hasn't felt that way in recent years. So Obama’s had, really, a different task. We're seen too often as the bad guys. And he – he has a very different job from – Reagan was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is ‘we are above that now.’ We're not just parochial, we're not just chauvinistic, we're not just provincial. We stand for something – I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God. He's going to bring all different sides together."

Alas, Barack Hussein Obama is a mere mortal. But as Thomas notes, he has global ambitions. He is not content with just salvaging the U.S. economy, exiting Iraq, closing Gitmo, revolutionizing health care, running auto companies or keeping the nation's physical and digital borders safe from terrorists. He wants to elevate the dialog and break down the profound differences, cultural impasses and centuries-old grudges on a global scale. As part of that quest to form a new global alliance for peace, Mr. Obama has been intent on disavowing Bush administration policies, such as the use of waterboarding and the Iraq war, in hope of restoring a more positive view of America around the world.

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Ever since the announcement of President Obama's trip to the Middle East, the media have been buzzing about Mr. Obama’s planned speech in Cairo. Now that the president has made the address, political analysts, journalists and others have lit up the Internet with their impressions.

Many felt the speech was exceptionally moving and delivered the right message.

"Your heart would have to be made of basalt and dry ice would flow in your veins if you were not moved by Barack Obama's speech," Dahlia Scheindlin told the Huffington Post. "President Obama talked about seeking similarities, not differences; a world view where people speak honestly, neither hiding painful truths, nor crippled by them. He viewed religion as a source of peace and reconciliation, rather than the fashionable-but-philistine view that it is the source of all evil. In the pre-Obama era, the only logical response would be a great big guffaw."

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In an effort to supplement President Obama's speech in Cairo Thursday morning, the White House released a Youtube video on the lives of three Muslim-Americans employed by the federal government.

Participants in the video reflect on being an American as well as a Muslim in a way that echoes Mr. Obama's statement that "America and Islam…share common principles -- principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings."

"To me, there's no contradiction between being an American, between being a Muslim," Afeefa Syeed, a senior advisor for culture and development at USAID, says in the video. "To be an American Muslim simply to me means that you're practicing your faith through the lens of an American identity. The comfort zone that I have is here in America because of this simple seamless connection between the two identities that forge in to one."



All three featured Muslim Americans are young, two of them are women, and all have worked in America while preserving their Islamic culture. Rashad Hussain, a deputy associate counsel to the president, says in the video that the principles of Islam are not exclusive to Muslims, but are inter-faith values.

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Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who served under George W. Bush, has doubts about how realistic the rhetoric was that President Obama laid out in his Cairo speech this morning.

"I thought it was a great speech – on paper. The problem is reality,” Fleischer told CBS News’ Mark Knoller.

Fleischer bluntly told Knoller, "bottom line -- the speech was balanced and that was what was wrong with it. American policy should not be balanced. It should side with those who fight terror.”

The Bush press secretary said that the president is not taking into consideration the causes for recent violence in Israel.

"For instance, Obama said, ‘the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel's security,’” Fleischer told Knoller, “[yet] he failed to note that Israel pulled out of Gaza and it’s the behavior of the Palestinians and Hamas that created the humanitarian crisis there.”

“The other greater reality is rocket fire,” he continued. “In exchange for withdrawal, Israel received daily rocket fire. Speeches serve useful purposes, but if you’re on the receiving end of rocket fire, security comes before rhetoric. That’s why the first step toward peace has to be the cessation of terrorist attacks; otherwise Israel will of course do whatever is necessary to defend herself. America would do the same.”

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President Obama's speech in Cairo today is likely to generate new debate in the Muslim world over issues like women's rights -- though he may not have spoken freely enough about promoting democratic governments, according to Reza Aslan, a CBS News analyst on the Middle East.

Aslan spoke with Harry Smith on The Early Show this morning to explain what messages delivered by the president will resonate with the Muslim world and where the president's speech fell short.

The president's approach to issues like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the fight against Al Qaeda and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was very frank, Aslan said.

"There were some words that Obama used that had never been used before by any American president, including the word 'occupation,' and the word 'Palestine,'" he said. "I think this is going to be really remarkable the way that the Muslim world reacts."

The crowd's reaction to Mr. Obama's words about women's rights was mixed, he said, and is likely to keep people talking, "which is precisely what Obama wanted."

"I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality," the president said (read the full text here). "And it is no coincidence that countries where women are well educated are far more likely to be prosperous."

He added that women's equality is still an issue in many aspects of American life and that the U.S. will partner with any Muslim country to expand the literacy rate and economic opportunities for women and girls.

Still, in a country that has been under the rule of the same man since 1981, Mr. Obama could have spoken more forcefully on promoting political development, Alsan said.

"This was something that Egyptians especially wanted to hear some more from the Obama administration," he said.

Watch the whole video below:

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CBS News' Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer said the most significant part of President Obama's speech to the Muslim world in Cairo, Egypt today, was that he made it.

"This was a remarkable speech," Schieffer told host Maggie Rodriguez on The Early Show this morning,"[t]he most remarkable thing to me was just simply that he made it. That he would go to Cairo and that he would speak with the candor he did."

"It's also going to be controversial," Schieffer predicted, noting the president's call for "these [Israeli] settlements to stop" and that he thinks the lesson learned in Iraq was sometimes diplomacy trumps force.

Schieffer said that "the fact that he was there, that Muslims got a chance to see him, to hear him... This will have a great impact…I think that was aimed at the next generation."

"This was professor Obama," Schieffer said alluding to the president's former career as a law professor at the University of Chicago.

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Here are some of the key points President Obama raised in his speech titled, "A New Begining" in Cairo, Egypt this morning.

• "We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world...I have come here to Cairo seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition."



• "I know there has been a lot of publicity about this speech, but no single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts..."



• "I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk."



• "...I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear...Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire."



• "Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President. But my personal story is not so unique."

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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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President Obama heads to Saudi Arabia this evening, his first stop on a five day trip which includes a speech to the Muslim world in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday. CBS News' National Security Consultant Juan Zarate explained the political and historical implications of this speech to CBSNews.com.

Zarate said the expectations for the president's remarks are daunting. Watch the interview here:

Aides say Barack Obama may make a major foreign policy speech from an Islamic capital during his first hundred days in office, the New York Times reports.

Though no location for the potential address has been set, the Times' Helene Cooper suggests that Cairo, Egypt may be the most logical choice.

A speech by Obama in the Muslim world could have broad implications. During the campaign, then-candidate Obama had to knock down false rumors that he is Muslim, spurring some anger among U.S. Muslims over the way their faith was being portrayed.

Obama had to tread carefully in his denials – he stressed his Christian faith while also noting (though not always as loudly as some would have liked) that there is nothing inherently wrong with Islamic beliefs. The speech would offer an opportunity to address the issue more forcefully.

The international implications could be even more significant.

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