If you want a good link to Obama’s Cairo Speech, NPR has one. President Obama’s Middle East Speech should, at the very least, demonstrate again that our 44th President is nothing like any U.S. President we’ve ever had. I mean that in terms of both depth and surface.

(photo courtesy of NY Times coverage –
or as my dear friend put the caption for this photo this morning,
“I Love Our President.”)

We can argue about his policy depth (I have been less than happy with
some of his recent choices), but his surface appeal is massive. Having
somebody who does not look caucasian representing us is of massive
value to the more than seventy percent of the world that is not white.
Looks are important, and having a president who looks like the world on
the world stage is no small thing, even if it may be a skin-deep
feature.But surface matters, presentation matters, and old white dudes
just don’t sell well outside our borders. Sorry old white dudes, we can have some of you representing us, but the time has passed when you are our primary global voice.