Bob Schieffer: Obama's Speech "Remarkable"
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.
The history buff host of "Face the Nation" and "Washington Unplugged," admitted that even he learned a few things from the historical speech.
"One thing I didn't know," Schieffer said, "he pointed out that Morocco, a Muslim country, was the first to recognize the United States. He also pointed out there is a mosque in every state in the United States of America."
You can watch the whole video below:
Obama's Trip: Complete Coverage
- Obama "Will Not Forget" Concentration Camp
- "Moment Is Now" For Mideast
- Transcript: Obama & Merkel
- Lara Logan: Arab World Saw Obama's Speech As Historic
- e-Jihadists Rail Against Obama's Speech
- Analysis: New Language Key In Obama Speech
- Obama Urges "New Beginning"
- Full Transcript Of Remarks | Full Video
- Key Passages
- Obama Checks Out Sphinx And Pyramids
- World Watch: Egyptians Hope Obama Words "Turn Into Reality"
- Bob Schieffer: Obama's Speech "Remarkable"
- Reza Aslan: Remarks On Women's Rights Could Start Debate
- Ari Fleischer: Obama Speech Too "Balanced"
- Photo Gallery: Obama In Egypt
- Hot Topic: The Price Of Diplomacy
- Interview With Egyptian Prime Minister
- Opinion: Busting Down Stereotypes In Cairo
- Opinion: What The Syrians Wanted Obama To Say