Obama gave his first major interview today to Al-Arabya. The most interesting part of the interview is not so much what he said (the usual, Israel is an ally. Iran must not get a nuclear weapon, ya da ya da) it was how he said it. For so long now, we have had a President in cowboy boots trying to play the role of the cowboy with depressing results. Today we saw how a president should act when presenting America to the world.
Some memorable excerpts.
"I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries," Obama said, according to a White House transcript. "My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy."
It feels real good to have, as the face of the United States, an individual that is made up of many good parts of the U.S. Next, he is talking about how he is going to deal with the world.
"What I told him is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating — in the past on some of these issues — and we don't always know all the factors that are involved," Obama said. "What we want to do is to listen, set aside some of the preconceptions that have existed and have built up over the last several years. And I think if we do that, then there's a possibility at least of achieving some breakthroughs
Why this is important is because for far too long the U.S. has been a bully. No one ever likes bullys. In fact, over time this dislike and anger turns to hate and you know where that leads? Yes, the dark side. We don't need our president to be a catalyst for other countries' terrorist organizations to grow its members. Numerous reports have been generated as to how Iraq and Bush's failed policies have led to more jihadists to join Al Quaeda's ranks. Now, we might be able to have the world like us again, reducing the numbers that join these groups.
It feels great to see intelligence and cool handedness in a president.
Here's the Times' take on it
