Obama, Muslims, and A New Way Forward

We, the People, have earned that relief, joy, and hope. But nagging in my mind are troubling scenes from Morocco only days earlier. There, in one of the Muslim world's moderate countries, proud of its tolerance and culture of learning and art, debates are raging. Just last week, students poured out of lycees all over the country, angrily denouncing the violence in Gaza. Demonstrators burned American flags. And intellectuals, deeply committed to peace and tolerance, furrowed their brows at the mounting social tensions and the hopelessness they sense among young people. Abel Damoussi, who produces "positive rap" in Morocco, forcefully urged a brainstorming group seeking diplomatic strategies on the way forward to focus on young people, in terms they understand, and to listen to their hopes and fears.

The phrase "winning hearts and minds" comes close to a cliché but that is what will make the difference. Western diplomats have large gaps in their knowledge and understanding of Islam and its customs, which they acknowledge, but are not doing much to remedy. And diplomacy today goes well beyond the formal negotiating table, involving universities, media and culture, high and low.

As for winning hearts, that's equally important and it starts with the term that Barack Obama used in addressing the Muslim world: respect: "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect." Respect starts with listening, but it needs to move on to real understanding and appreciation of how the world looks from another place.

The contrasting images of joyous Americans embarking on a new age and Moroccans enraged by images of dead babies in Gaza underscore what we know full well: the road ahead is chock full of challenges. But Obama's pithy promise to the Muslim world shows the way we need to go.