The "new beginning between the U.S. and Muslims around the world"

By GottaLaff

As it should be:

President Barack Obama appointed a special envoy Saturday to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the 57-nation organization that calls itself the "collective voice of the Muslim world."

He is Rashad Hussein, an Indian-American Muslim who has been a deputy associate White House counsel, described by Obama as "an accomplished lawyer and a close and trusted member of my White House staff." [...]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be speaking Sunday at the 7th annual forum and Obama took the opportunity Saturday to laud the event and reiterate what he calls the "new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world" - a relationship that he says has been marred by "misunderstanding and mistrust."

Please read the whole thing here.

Our president shines when it comes to making an effort to bring people together... and his willingness to ignore the small-minded pummeling from his opponents in order to rectify the ill will created by 8 years of BushCo.

In Ramadan, the best dates in Egypt are 'Obama'

Interesting to note that the best dates used to be named after the leader of Hezbollah, and the crappy dates are currently named after George W Bush and others...

CAIRO— For the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Egyptian fruit sellers have named their best dates of the year after President Barack Obama in a sweet tribute to the American leader for his outreach to the Muslim world.

Dates are a traditional food for Ramadan -- which begins Saturday in most of the Islamic world -- since the Prophet Muhammad is said to have used them to break the month's sunrise-to-sunset fast each evening.

(snip)

"We love Obama and so we named our best dates for him," said Atif Hashim at his busy shop in downtown Cairo.

Huge barrels in his shop were piled with "Obama" dates, selling for just under $2.50 a pound ($5 a kilogram). For an additional dollar, there is an even better date, labeled on a sign as "Super Obama."

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via. This is one of my favs so far.

Raw Video: Obama Arrives in Saudi Arabia

Did Obama Really Call America A Muslim Country? Nope.

Damn Greg gets up and at it early. I just noticed the wacky convergence on Memeorandum, and he's already debunked it.

Indeed, critics are already grabbing on to the comment as it was reported in the New York Times write-up:

In an interview with Laura Haim on Canal Plus, a French television station, Mr. Obama noted that the United States also could be considered as “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.” He sought to downplay the expectations of the speech, but he said he hoped the address would raise awareness about Muslims.

The Times piece is already spreading rapidly on the right. PowerLineBlog, for instance, asked: “In what possible sense can any rational person consider the United States to be a Muslim country?” But here’s what Obama actually said:

Now, the flip side is I think that the United States and the West generally, we have to educate ourselves more effectively on Islam. And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslims Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. And so there’s got to be a better dialogue and a better understanding between the two peoples.

They just can't help themselves.

Poll: Mideast Arabs think very highly of Obama

It's been awhile since I posted a poll, and this is a good one.

WASHINGTON — As President Barack Obama prepares to journey to Egypt on June 4 to address the Muslim world, his overtures to the Middle East are paying off in positive feelings towards him from Arab peoples that far outpace the region's critical view of the United States itself, according to a new McClatchy/Ipsos Poll.

The poll of six Arab nations found that residents think that Obama will have a positive impact on the Middle East — a region marked by war, religious disputes, ethnic and sectarian violence — as well as on the United States and the rest of the world.

Obama scored highest in Jordan, where 58 percent of its citizens have a favorable opinion of him, 29 percent have an unfavorable view, 6 percent had no opinion and 7 percent didn't know.

Saudi Arabians have a 53 percent favorable opinion of Obama, followed by 52 percent in the United Arab Emirates. From there, Obama's popularity dips below 50 percent with a 47 percent favorability rating in Kuwait, 43 percent in Lebanon and 35 percent in Egypt. In none of these countries, however, was Obama's unfavorable rating higher than his favorable one.

In contrast, only 38 percent of Saudis have a favorable view of the United States, followed by 36 percent of Jordanians, 34 percent of UAE residents, 31 percent of Lebanese and 22 percent of Egyptians.

Obama Will Make Major Speech in Egypt

They also confirm the trip to Germany that I mentioned earlier.

President Obama will make his promised speech to the Muslim world from Egypt, according to the Washington Post.

"Obama pledged during the campaign to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital within the first few months of taking office. Picking a site proved challenging for a range of reasons -- from diplomacy to security -- and the decision took longer than expected, with Obama commissioning options from a research team."

Poll: Big Majority Trusts Obama To Get It Right With Muslim World

I put this in the link post, but it deserves more attention. Via Greg-

Lots of folks this morning are writing about these astonishing new poll numbers released by The Washington Post that show a huge majority says it’s important to improve relations with the Muslim world.

No question — those are interesting numbers. But there’s also this, from the internals:

In trying to improve U.S. relations with Muslim nations, do you think Obama will (go too far), (not go far enough) or handle it about right?

Too far 22%

Not far enough 9%

About right 65%

No opinion 4%

So a big majority simply has faith that Obama will get the balance right as he repairs relations with the Muslim world.

One of the lesser-remarked-upon aspects of Obama’s Presidency is the surprising levels of innate trust people seem to have in Obama’s competence and judgment — they simply expect that he’s going to get it right.

I think this attests to the surprising durability of the Obama brand under the stresses of actual governing, which has done little to erode people’s basic trust in Obama’s competence and in the idea that he’s doing what he thinks is right for the country.

Makes this seem just about right.