President Apology

[Full Egypt speech linked to Huffington Post in title]

"I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum."

"We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world - tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam. [emphasis added by me]

There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth." That is what I will try to do - to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.

Part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk.

I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America's story[.].. And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers - Thomas Jefferson - kept in his personal library.

...

So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't." [emphasis added by me]

I do not care that Obama has all but stated he is/was a Muslim. I have Muslim friends, I own a beautiful leather bound copy of the Koran that was given to me as a gift from a good friend who is a convert. What bothers me is both the tone of almost contempt displayed by Obama towards America and his glowing representaion of how the "West" has treated Muslim majority countries.

While we're at it, why during the campaign, were people labeled "racist" for asking if Obama is/was Muslim. If he's going to run around the middle-east on an apology tour touting his Muslim roots, why were his Muslim roots hushed during the campaign?