On his first visit as president to a predominantly Islamic nation, Obama reached out to Arabs and Muslims in his Ankara address, saying the United States "is not and never will be at war with Islam." He also spoke of the Arab-Israeli peace process, saying he will "actively pursue" the goal of creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
I am sure lots of people (would hazard a guess majority i.e. 50%+) in the US are not with him on this stance. Not saying He (;)) is wrong, just that this is a big "change" in terms of the way the US has historically treated the Middle East situation.Related: President Barack Obama says he wants to get things done, but hopes he is not viewed as an incurable optimist.
Talking to Turkish students in Istanbul Tuesday, the president acknowledged he has high aspirations for achievement, particularly in such nettlesome areas as Mideast peace, Iran, and the general U.S. image in the world. Obama said, "Some people say that maybe I'm being too idealistic."
But he also said "my attitude is that all these things are hard, I mean, I'm not naive."
Obama said that "if it were easy, it would have already been done ... But if we don't try, if we don't reach high, we won't make any progress." He said he is counting on the young to help because "they can get rid of some of the old baggage and old suspicions, and I think that's important."
More power to him on that! (emphasis mine)
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