Obama in Cairo

Rhetorically, at least, President Obama moved mountains in the land of Muhammad. Speaking from Cairo University to the world's estimated 1.5 billion Muslims, the American president made a frank appeal for a new relationship based on mutual respect. Language matters, and this was an eloquent address of historic and moral importance meant to turn the page on strong-arm politics and ultimatums. The first U.S. president of color and the son of a Muslim, Obama brought his personal credibility to the podium, not to apologize but to acknowledge the country's past mistakes and to set an agenda for the future. Certainly words alone will not bring peace to the Middle East or persuade America's enemies to abandon their anger. As Obama noted, "recognizing our common humanity is only the beginning of our task." Still, this was a new beginning.

In recent years, U.S. relations with Muslim nations have been shaped largely by hostilities, from the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington to the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been an open wound bleeding distrust and anger. While vowing to confront violent extremism and defend Americans, Obama sought to end that era with a declaration: The United States is not at war with Islam. Rather, he said, the ties stretch from the American Revolution, when Morocco became the first country to recognize U.S. independence, to the present, with 1,200 mosques in the United States offering convincing testimony that "Islam is part of America."

Many times during the nearly hourlong speech, Obama seemed to be trying to right the wrongs of linguistic omission. While maintaining that the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan was necessary, he stated that Iraq was "a war of choice" that sowed discord within the United States and around the world. He condemned a history of colonialism and the Cold War treatment of Muslim countries as proxies. Speaking to Iran, Obama acknowledged that the United States "played a role in the overthrow" of the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1953 -- a long-awaited admission in our fractious relations with that Muslim nation.