Just another example of how Al-Qaida is going to miss having a paranoid and a dolt to manipulate.

it would also be nice if the conservative american people -- not the wingnuts or insane republican leadership -- took note of the 'domestic' criteria in obama's speech. to wit: the honor and respect and patriotism that is the heritage and history of Islam in the United States -- and the same of our fellow islamic Americans.

It doesn't help when you have the idiot George Will repeating the LIE on THIS WEEK that it was President Arafat that had said no to some glorious deal that Prime Minister Ehud Barak had offered in 2000, and his revisionist history in regards to Israel and Palestine did not end there.

The man is a BUFFOON in desperate need of a 24/7 factchecker.

Any bets on when the fRighties will claim that this proves that Obama is an Islamofascist?

Some of these goons are literally overflowing with hatred and contempt and have fixated on Obama not using the word 'terrorist' to go simply apoplectic on tv.

These people are trying to cause unhinged people to do something violent.

It sure feels great to have this guy representing us in the world! How I cringed and gnashed my teeth during the Bush years!

Let the wingnuts whine!

OTOH, secular Muslims are upset with Obama's frequent Quran quotes in the speech and would have appreciated seeing a little more support for their efforts. Obama has to be very careful here. While his moderating words may take power away from Muslim extremists, it may also end up strengthening the base of conservatives at the expense of liberal voices in the Muslim world.

Secular muslims? What, all three of them?

Look, I'm all for secular everyone, being secular myself, but I doubt very much that a few anodyne quotes from a culturally significant book--like the ones Obama actually chose--will strengthen the hands of conservatives at the expense of liberal voices in the Muslim world.

In our universe, in a country like the US, Obama's frequent bible quotes are grating because we officially have a separation of church and state. Except for Turkey, and aren't they losing that battle, there's no tradition of such a separation in the Muslim world. And the Qu'ran is like Shakespeare and the Mahabharata rolled into one, or Goethe for the Germans. Everything is in it, somewhere. Its just an act of cultural respect to make a gesture to its importance.

If anything, I think all of Obama's carefully measured words, up to and including what Jon Stewart parodied as his "abrahamic faith shout out/pick a lane why dont you" triple header strenghtens the hand of moderates and seculars who want to point to Obama and America and say "see! Its not so bad when you stop being so fearful! They don't forget out holy book! Now lets move on."

aimai

Since we already invaded the only secular arab country without justification, trashed it completely, and pretty much ensured that it will be highly religious in the future, I'm pretty sure that anything Obama does short of invading Iran will be an improvement.

It's so nice have a president that one can justifiably be proud of. It's been a while since the last one.

Steve: "... and [President Obama] removed his shoes when he toured a Cairo mosque."

That is a custom not exclusive to Muslims, and further, it is one with which Barack Obama should already be well-acquainted and comfortable. Hawaii kama'aina (longtime residents) long ago adopted the Japanese tradition of removing one's footwear when visiting another's private residence and leaving them by the front door, as a sign of personal respect due one's host.

Disputo: "OTOH, secular Muslims are upset with Obama's frequent Quran quotes in the speech and would have appreciated seeing a little more support for their efforts. Obama has to be very careful here. While his moderating words may take power away from Muslim extremists, it may also end up strengthening the base of conservatives at the expense of liberal voices in the Muslim world."

You know, I couldn't have overstated a more dubious point any better than that.

You haven't offered any evidence to support your contention regarding how "secular" and / or "liberal" Muslims feel about President Obama, and further you've no idea whether there are enough of them in the Islamic world to even consider their opinions as significtion factors in our country's policy deliberations and decision-making.

Why can't you just state your personal opinion for our consideration and leave it at that, rather than embellishing it for effect with such rigid personal certitude that we should somehow confuse it with actual fact?

If nothing else, at least al-Qaida in calling our president a 'wise enemy' can no longer call our president 'the dumbass from Texas who is easily manipulated'.

So... we've got that going for us.

If you had been paying close attention to what the Hamas leadership have been saying for the past three or four years, instead of what has been said about what Hamas has been saying by other interested parties, you might recognize that this comment is totally consistent in tone with what Hamas' leadership have stated previously. We in the west - especially in the USA - are trapped in a web of our own making, with our government's characterization of Hamas as a terrorist organization, thanks once again to the influence of AIPAC.

It's such a shame Obama wasn't able to satisfy every single person on every single issue — especially at the margins. When is he gonna get his act together and meet his critics expectations to be perfect? Sheesh!

And, correct me if I'm wrong, but we're not at war with liberal or moderate Muslims.