Obama's Cairo speech rabbis Media Mention of ATFP In Foreign Policy - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am Who advised President Barack Obama on the big speech? "Over the weekend, White House officials hosted a group of Muslim and other foreign policy scholars to discuss what points Mr. Obama should touch on," Politico's Mike Allen reports in Playbook. The New York Times details: Ghaith Al-Omari from the American Task Force on Palestine, Carnegie Endowment's Karim Sadjadpour, Iran expert Vali Nasr, who's been working for Holbrooke, and Brookings' Shibley Telhami, who's been all over the airwaves incidentally commenting on the speech: » Read more

Rival Messages as Obama Lands in the Mideast Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The New York Times - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am Aiming to repair the American relationship with the Muslim world, President Obama was greeted on Wednesday with reminders of the vast gulfs his Cairo speech must bridge, as voices as disparate as Al Qaeda’s and the Israeli government’s competed to shape how Mr. Obama’s message would be heard. » Read more

Muslims Will Judge Obama by Actions More Than Words Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The New York Times - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am It is too soon to tell whether President Obama’s 55-minute speech to the Muslim world from Cairo will be the balm to America’s broken relationship with Islam that White House officials hope. Some early signs are promising — and not just that several times someone in Mr. Obama’s audience in the domed hall yelled out, “I love you!” » Read more