President Obama's Cairo Speech
Sardar Anees Ahmad
Waterloo, NY

As extremists inherently pit Islam against the West and Westerners often espouse progressive ideals to the Muslim world in a nonprogressive manner, I doubted if any public figure could offer concrete ideas to promote peace. President Obama’s Cairo address, however, dispelled those doubts.

Presenting a vast overlap of Islamic and American ideals, the president’s address gave the Muslim world hope, and extremists angst. The president referred to the Koran and history to show that Islam advocates for pluralism, education and sanctity of life. He reminded the Muslim world of America’s support for Islam dating back to John Adams’s presidency, to its defense of the hijab, or head scarf, to the fact that so many Muslims have succeeded in so many ways in America.

By incorporating Islam into the equation rather than rejecting it, President Obama presented the most conciliatory message for global peace in recent memory: swords may bend heads, but only ideas bend minds.