I literally cannot believe President Obama pulled off the speech as well as he did. This one’s for the blog:

I know there has been a lot of publicity about this speech, but no single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors.

Well, Mr. President, here’s a start…

Excerpted from Imran Malik’s post on the Taqwacore webzine “Obama’s Wooing Them Moslims.”

Having lived 6 out of the 8 years of the Bush Administration in Pakistan, I had watched the slow disintegration of the U.S. from a distance. This country built on ideals of freedom and opportunity was now under the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, Racial Profiling, Guantanamo Bay, and all sorts of other shit that would shrivel Muslims’ testes. Highly educated and respected U.S. citizens who happened to be Muslim were being strong armed on a daily basis by Airport Security personnel and the FBI. Hell, it wasn’t just Muslims. Sikhs, Hindus, Arab christians, people with beards. When I’d visit home, I’d always notice people on my flight at customs that would try and act “extra” American. Brown dudes in the U.S. Customs line with thick accents wearing U.S.A. baseball hats talking loudly about if the Yankees were gonna win the World Series or not. As funny as that was, I thought it was sad that they felt the need to prove their American-ness, just so they don’t get held up and customs and can get back to their families. Or maybe they really liked baseball. Who knows.

Life right before the election was thankless and rough. I think people were/are still coming to grips with the fact the majority of people were addicted to fear and cynicism about government. Change became a luxury not an option.

I was in DC for election night (and liveblogged about it) when that started to make sense to me. If I would have been at home, I would have cried like a baby like my sister and Dad did. In DC, I just knew like there was even more work to do now. But for that night, it was time to let go and take a breather.

President Obama gets that there’s work ahead. I hope he communicates that in the right way abroad. It’s not really clear at the moment and even a nerd like Obama can’t articulate it in a way that makes sense to the entire world.