Obama: I Wanted To "Come To The Place Where Islam Began"

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/03/obama-i-wanted-to-come-to_n_210788.html

Obama: I Wanted To "Come To The Place Where Islam Began"

First Posted: 06- 3-09 10:03 AM | Updated: 06- 3-09 10:27 AM


The White House has released the remarks of President Obama and King Abdullah upon Obama's arrival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:

Q Mr. President, what's your message, sir, here?


PRESIDENT OBAMA: This is my first visit to Saudi Arabia, but I've had several conversations with His Majesty. And I've been struck by his wisdom and his graciousness. Obviously the United States and Saudi Arabia have a long history of friendship, we have a strategic relationship. And as I take this trip and we'll be visiting Cairo tomorrow, I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek His Majesty's counsel and to discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East.

So I just want to again thank him for his extraordinary generosity and hospitality. And I m confident that working together the United States and Saudi Arabia can make progress on a whole host of issues and mutual interests.

KING ABDULLAH: (As translated.) I thank you, Mr. President, for the kind words and the kind sentiments expressed within them. I am not surprised, given the historic and strategic ties between our two countries, I believe that go back to the time of the meeting between the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the late King Abdul-Aziz.

I also want to express my best wishes to the friendly American people who are represented by a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Shukran.

[Political Heretic]

1. More of this. Less of this:

[Aloha Spirit]

5. Well, I think we're about to get promises on a peace initiative.

I hope so at least.

[depakid]

2. Oh, man- is THAT going to rile the fundies in the states!

and scramble the game board for Fundamentalists abroad.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Putting it that way

shows the Muslim world respect for their faith. A wise move on Obama's part, I think.

[ClarkUSA]

4. President Obama is, for all intents and purposes, the most effective diplomat that this nation has.

[babylonsister]

6. Now stand by for bellyaching about... SHUKRAN.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018463.php

SHUKRAN.... Now he's done it.

King Abdullah also noted the ties between the two nations, which he said go back to the 1930's and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the late King Abdul-Aziz.

He endorsed Obama's election win, calling him "a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position."

"Shukran," Obama said, which is "thank you" in Arabic.

The president's use of an Arabic word has apparently sparked some interest because, well, I'm not sure why. When Obama chatted with a French journalist yesterday, he said, "Bonjour," and no one seemed to care. (It's good to know Arabic is still more controversial, as a language, than French.)

But before anyone gets too excited about this, Spencer Ackerman reminds us that Gen. David Petraeus told the press last fall, as he was wrapping up his tenure as U.S. commander in Iraq, "As-Salamu 'Alaykum, masa' al-kheir, good afternoon to all of you, and shukran jaziilan for joining us for today's roundtable."

Spencer added, "Can we really trust military commanders who speak other languages on occasion? ... Come to think of it, have we ever really seen Petraeus's birth certificate?"

I'd just add that none other than George W. Bush told his Iraqi hosts, "Shukran," late last year, shortly before having a shoe thrown at him.

Something to consider before Fox News starts scrutinizing the "significance" of the president' comment.

—Steve Benen