That was the message. It was bolstered by weaving in quotes from the Quran and by the president greeting the crowd with "assalamu alaykum," or "peace be upon you." And the speech was delivered the way you introduce yourself here to neighbors as a newcomer to town: explaining where you're from, your passions, your dreams, but not delving too deeply into prickly topics. That unveiling comes later, during ensuing weeks, months and years.
But many in this region want deeds and progress much sooner and believe that the speech was more of a balancing act than an aggressive agenda. "He's speaking in the right direction, but we need to see what follows," said Ibrahim Hudaiby, a blogger and member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. "It's time for action. ... The devil is in the details."
Obama spoke fervently about the creation of a Palestinian state, while also stressing that the U.S.-Israeli bond is unbreakable. This was the topic many Arab Muslims waited for, and Obama, as in much of the speech, turned to history: how it resonated, but also how the world must not be bound by it.
He said denying the existence of the Holocaust, as some of Israel's enemies have done, is "baseless, it is ignorant and it is hateful." But he quickly noted that "it is also undeniable" that the Palestinians have suffered pain and indignities in their quest for a homeland. He again firmly called for a halt to the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but he said Palestinians should follow the course of nonviolent protest, such as practiced by blacks in the United States and South Africa.
His remarks on expanding democracy drew applause from the audience, but they were couched in too much diplomacy for Egyptian activists and dissidents whose voices have been squelched for nearly 28 years by Obama's host, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Some of them had criticized Obama's visit here as an endorsement of an autocratic regime that has imprisoned thousands of opponents.
The U.S. leader did not mention any country or Arab leader by name when he declared that government must be run with "a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make a true democracy."
The tenor of his address was not to point blame - except at extremists - but to end animosities between Islam and the West and to start anew. It highlighted his gifts as an orator but left open the question of how successful a statesmen he may become.
"We have the power to make the world we seek," he said, "but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written."
He then quoted from the Quran, the Talmud and the Bible.
But Obama will need to recite more than holy text to convince his audience that his words will be followed by change.
