Obama speaks to the Muslim world

By Jennifer J. Foster

In just a few hours, President Obama will take the stage in Egypt and deliver a major address to Muslims all over the world.

There’s a ton of speculation about what the president will say and how he will say it. To get a glimpse of some of what went in to crafting this message specifically for the Muslim world, read the excellent, revealing advance from The New York Times.

But observers are just as intrigued, if not more so, by what he may not say. Will his speech come off as any sort of apology? The president told the BBC that no, it is just meant to “open a dialogue.“ Newsweek’s Christopher Dickey offers this look at that angle.

Finally, as the Times reports, the White House is in the middle of a full-court press on this message. Check out this White House blog entry, which offers you a video with “a few stories of Muslim Americans who are proudly serving their nation in the federal government” and a brief history of the relationship between the Muslim world and previous occupants of the White House (hint: it’s not what you might think).

In case you’re interested and you’re an early (early) bird, Obama will deliver the speech at 6:10 a.m. EDT. It will be carried live on all the cable news networks and streamed live on the web.

... For the rest of us, there’s C-SPAN and CNN and YouTube.