Obama: Appeasement and weakness, or nobility and diplomacy?

Nice Op-Ed piece. 

Nothing wrong with those comments.  I am sure they will not stop one single terrorist for one single second but the vast majority of peaceful Muslims (including those who are themselves American citizens) may appreciate it.

Yes,  it at least sets a global tone.  No,  it will not make any difference to Hezballah,  or Jihaad   -  notwithstanding,  it at least breaks with W.  and his nastiness.  No,  no actual change,  just a change in tone,  and perhaps I am a bit abstract in placing such emphasis on it.  Not too reality-based,  I suppose:    and yet Obama's soaring rhetoric and oratory somehow seemimportant rather than false.  Thank you all. :)

There is a lot of work to "binding up the wounds" of America's international image, and together with his Cairo speech and this wish of peace we move closer to gaining global trust.

I think you are correct!  Thanks. ;)

What tooth paste was he selling, lol.

On a serious note Obama is trying hard to sell we are the good guys really and you Muslims should view us that way. Its in fact an hard indoctrination to sell but Obama is good at advertising. Its all about getting the advert right and the editor missed the gleaming sparkling teeth option of which to my mind would of been more appealing. lol

But I must say I loved the advert the script was good and well delivered.

"...[W]e are the good guys and you Muslims should view us that way."

I don't characterize the Muslim world through the lens of Jihadd, and I hope they don't characterize America through the KKK. 

People, Muslims are not all terrorists, a tiny proportion of people you could call terrorists but then you could also say they are not Muslim as the Quran does not advocate killing innocent people. Most people do not understand the true meanings of these words, Jihad and the like.

So wishing Muslims the world over good tidings on the begining of Ramadan is nothing what-so-ever to do with Jihad or Terrorism as whishing someone a Merry Christmas is nothing to do with the atrocities that were commited by some Christian missionarys in Africa.

Yes,  it is true:  Obama's well wishes were for Muslims,  not terrorists.  Just as wishing America well is not wishing the KKK well,  as someone pointed out.  The Bush Administration wanted us to equate all Muslims with terrorists,  despite what they told themselves and others. 

Point taken,  although there was a tone and an aura to that Administration,  or at least those who zealously followed it,  that seemed to me to be nationalistic and anti-Muslim.  The words,  I took,  as perfunctory:  But as you are pointing out,  I may have been biased.  I heard a far different message,  or was I hearing a subtext?  I thought they did indeed "want something":  hegemony.  Control,  moral suasion.  

Honestly I think that Bush bought into Chenney's bend towards the idea of establishing 2 democracies left and right of Iran that would be US allies (See Project for a New American Century for details: http://www.newamericancentury.org), and that Iran would fall as a result of external pressure and start a wave of such revolutions across the Muslim world. I think his intentions were good, but showed a complete lack of understanding of the Muslim world. The reaction of Muslims was most certainly that we declared war on Islam, but I don't think that Bush did anything to suggest hostility towards their faith. He thought he could make Muslims lovers of freedom and was simply mistaken. Again this is just my opinion though.