Obama Brings Something New: Common Ground

I watched the much anticipated speech by President Obama from Cairo and read the transcript a few times to get a grasp of how surreal this feels. 8 years removed from one of the biggest roadblocks in Muslim-American relationship, Obama stood in front of thousands of Arab Muslims pleading common ground and moderation. He was firm about terrorism, extremism and America's support of Israel, but at the same time he was accepting of all religions and all people if they desire to live in peace with their neighbors.

It has been a few weeks since the speech, so gaging the effects is difficult but I can't help but see that since then two events happened in the Muslim world that make me smile. The first event is that Afghani and Pakistani villagers are voluntarily fighting the Taliban for the first time in a long time. The second event is that Ahmadinejad might lose his presidency to a more moderate candidate during the current elections due to record numbers of moderate Iranians coming out to vote.

This blogger is not trying to tie the events with the speech but he can't help but enjoy days where the President of the United States is not dodging shoes during a speech at an Arab capital.

Another beautiful thing to see is that now a days both Conservatives and Liberals are not too happy with Obama, which means he is doing a great job because most of us are neither conservative nor liberal. Most of us are moderate. Most of us are conservative in some issues and liberal in others. I heard a quote once that stated: "You know it is a good deal, when both parties leave the negotiation tables unhappy."