Thursday, January 29, 2009

Obama's Middle East Welcome

Time: As President Barack Obama's new Middle East envoy held talks with Egyptian leaders across town on Wednesday, students at Cairo University were offering up their views of the new American President — and the very mention of his name brought warm smiles and delight in their eyes. They like Obama. Even Omar Youssef, 20, who earlier this month had joined angry protests, tinged with anti-American sentiment, against Israel's war in Gaza, is impressed by what he's heard about Obama thus far. "He's a man of diplomacy and speaks well," Youssef explains, standing around the corner from Egyptian security vehicles crammed with riot police in case more protests erupt. "Bush, Arab people hate him. But the world needs a man like Obama." (See pictures of people around the world watching Obama's Inauguration.)

What George Mitchell, Obama's Mideast peacemaker, brings to the table: