No need for me to reprise President Obama's speech today at Cairo University - the White House website should have the text and video up soon, and the BBC already has an annotated version. With our time zone advantage, we watched it live from our living room in Brussels, and a very stirring speech it was.
Respect was a repeated theme, no small matter for a religion - Islam - which has been the target of Western fear and disdain well before George W. Bush's benighted sojourn in the White House. Whatever Rush Limbaugh may sputter tonight about the President of the United States quoting the Koran, Barack Obama's use of strategic texts from the Bible, the Torah, and the Koran struck a chord in the Cairo audience.
The man from Illinois had an Abe Lincoln air of moral rectitude when delivering The Truth to the audience. Islam is too great a religion to be associated with terrorism (the unmentioned word), and there has to be room in the Middle East - specifically Jerusalem - for the people of the three great monotheistic religions.
The Truth, to Israeli listeners, also means that settlements are a major roadblock to a negotiated solution. Hamas was addressed in a civil tone, perhaps a hint that change is afoot in the US attitude towards the party that won the Palestinian elections.
No one who has witnessed this President's first several months in office, or who listened to his speech in the Arab world's largest city, can doubt his resolve to do his utmost to bring a solution to the Israel-Palestine question.
More proof that Americans did themselves proud when they elected this man who, almost single-handed, is bringing the 3 Rs back to America's place in the world.