Thursday, June 11, 2009

Hearts and Minds ...

One minute into his speech he won nearly every heart and mind in the great hall, announcing his pride to be carrying "the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace Muslim communities use in my country: asalaamu alaikum.

The audience rose to its feet and I was not the only one in that vast hall with tears in my eyes.


Al Jazeera has the most beautiful article on the effect Barack Obama had on the people in Cairo ...

It was written by S Abdallah Schleifer is Distinguished Professor of Journalism at the American University in Cairo and Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC.

3 comments:

The Unrepentant Gallivanter said...

: )

RD said...

This article presented such a different perspective when juxtaposed with some of the reports by US outlets like Fox, that you might think they'd been covering different events. I so much appreciate Obama's ability to engage people from all backgrounds and all viewpoints and get them to admit that there are ways to make things work, despite our differences. The only ones he hasn't been able to engage in any meaningful way are the hardcore, right-wing Republicans in our Congress who are so glibly fanning the fires of fear and hatred. We've got our own homegrown extremists, and their take on Obama's speech in Cairo was...hmmm...less favorable than this journalist's.

Di Mackey said...

Indeed, Ms Unrepentant Gallivanter.

Thanks RD, I did wonder how it had been reported in the US. I do believe Mr Obama is going be more remarkable than I imagined he would be allowed to be from within the confines of office.

Fox is extraordinarily irresponsible, as usual. How sad that they are so convincing in their presentation.