Below, you can watch the President's speech at Cairo University delivered June 4, 2009. Just turn-up the sound and push the play button.
About the photo: President Obama waves to the audience as he leaves the stage at Cairo University, June 4, 2009. White House photo. From the Flickr White House Photostream.
If you want to read or print the official White House transcript, click here.
This is not just a speech. It is the most important address from an American President made on foreign soil in our lifetime.
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A quick look back:
The conservatives are branding the President's trip as "Obama's apology tour", but it is their nature to throw mud at everything that moves. Everyone expects it. Republicans have become isolationists. Their efforts at foreign policy during the Bush years have been dismal failures and have helped bring the world to the brink of chaos. It is no surprise that the Republicans want to pull their wagons around in a circle shoot anything that moves. It's a sad state of affairs for the Grand Old Party (emphasis on old).
Moving Forward:
President Obama contributed a new dialogue to the one currently dominated by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Osama bin Laden. The President's words are aimed at the young adults, the college students and the young professionals of the Muslim world. This is a generational issue and Barack Obama just entered the forum. He proposed a dialogue based on mutual respect and mutual interest. It is an intelligent and responsible message. Let the dialogue begin!
Key excerpts from the speech:
If you just want to read a few quotes to get the general idea of the speech, try these:
I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition.
Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an empire. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words -- within our borders, and around the world. We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum -- "Out of many, one."
..........- President Barack Obama, (Cairo University, June 4, 2009)
Watch the speech - video on demand:
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For much more information and some excellent resources go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/
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