How does Obamas address reflect Americans perceptions and misperceptions of Arab politics and Arab-Muslim culture?
I think with Arab politics, Obama is talking about being more open and more responsive to citizens of different Arab countries. He does that by saying that political leaders have to be accountable for your people. He’s not calling for democracy. But he is calling for accountability. That’s extremely important. In terms of Arab-Muslim culture, we need to have a summit. We need to have a dialog to shatter these myths and I think the dialog comes with media leaders and all the countries involved. It’s Hollywood, it’s the press, and it’s about what can be done so these crude stereotypes are not taken to an extreme. If we continue vilifying one another, peace will never happen. So where do we go from here after Obama’s address? I think we’ve learned that we have a leader who cares passionately about the human race, curtailing terrorism worldwide, and putting an end to an illegal occupation. He is a leader who has respect for all faiths; he has the vision to see the commonalities among the f
