These incidents sparked bigotry against Muslims that highlighted the need for the administration to speak up for American Muslims.
In December last, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a leading Muslim civil advocacy group, sent a letter to President Obama to address an alarming level of anti-Islam and anti-Muslim hate in the United States. There has been no response from the administration.
Across the Arab and Islamic world, the change in style is measured against the substance of U.S. policies. Foreign opinion polls repeatedly confirm the link between the U.S. image and U.S. foreign policy. Unfortunately, Obama's positive rhetoric was not followed by with concrete policies. Instead of making any substantial change in the traditional US policies in the Muslim world, Obama administration has resorted to changing terminology.
While President Obama should be congratulated on his efforts to change the discourse of US policy towards the Muslim world, it is clear that people expect more than new policy statements from him. To borrow Khaled Hroub, of the Cambridge University Arab Media Project, the spurt of fresh air that US-Muslim relations enjoyed after Obama's arrival in the White House is already somewhat musty; it could be exhausted even before the end of his period in office, and certainly after it.
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