While I am in no way a fervent Obama supporter, and to the contrary a rather tepid one, I have to say that after watching his speech today in Egypt, I have a renewed respect for him as a man. Furthermore, it is just very comforting to know that we have a President representing the United States who has enough humility, education, and earnestness to openly pay respect to the massive contribution the Islamic world has made to the wider world. He pointed out how Islam "paved the way" for the European Renessance and Enlightenment, something that very few American know, much less woudl actually acknowlege. Much of what we give credit to Europeans for, such as algebra, the magnetic compass, "our mastery of pens and printing", "our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed", and that's to say nothing of the absolutely endless array of architectural discoveries and ideas that Europe would ultimately take credit for.
Well, you can watch the speech yourself. My point is simple: I may not agree with some of Barack Obama's policies so far, namely some of his economic and environmental stances (they don't go nearly far enough in the right direction), but the fact that he has the intellect and humility to speak about these things in such a well thought-out way, gives me hope that the United States may someday earn the right to call itself a democracy. However, we have to step up and do our part as citizens first. Something I would argue we have not come close to. Obama is, whether you like him or not, opening a hell of a lot of doors for the American people to pop into and demand change from within, but will we take advantage of them?
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