President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have concluded their trip to Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country and the president’s former childhood home. Although the Indonesia visit had been postponed twice because of erupting domestic American concerns, the Obamas also ended up leaving early, due to an actual erupting volcano. (Nature has a sense of humor/irony?)
There’s lots of U.S.-Muslim world news in general today — Oklahoma’s new Shariah law ban is being appealed, the hajj to Mecca is coming up in a few days — so here’s a quick round-up of the president’s visit:
- Obama herald’s Indonesia’s political, religious diversity in latest outreach to Muslims (Washington Post)
- Obama pledges expanded ties with Muslim nations (NYT)
- In Indonesia, Obama speaks about religious pluralism in major address (Religion Clause)
- Muslims say Obama failing to keep Cairo promises (Reuters)
- Obama seeks better ties with skeptical Muslim world (Reuters)
- Obama says Indonesia’s unity is inspiration to the world (AFP)
Reuters also has a cool “word cloud” comparison of Obama’s speech to the Muslim world in Indonesia versus his Cairo speech last year. And, there’s some silly stuff about the First Lady’s headscarf and a bit of a handshake brouhaha, too.
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