<\/p>\n
Dear Mr. President-Elect,<\/p>\n
It is hard to believe that it has just been two weeks since And yet this is not just about America.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>This is also about the world, and Did you know that your election was front-page news in Iran, The Republicans (and a few Democrats) tried to mock your There was another time in which the world seemed so Bush came into the White House talking about how he wanted And let us know how we can help.\u00a0<\/span>We do not wish to be the rogues of the world Now is the time.\u00a0<\/span>Now is the time to build on the good will <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Mr. President-Elect, It is hard to believe that it has just been two weeks since your historic election.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There has been so much discussion in this country about what this election signifies, from what we hope is the beginning of healing of our racial wounds, to the emergence of a new face of America…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-relations","category-muslims"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nyour historic election.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span>There has been so much discussion in this country about what this election
\nsignifies, from what we hope is the beginning of healing of our racial wounds,
\nto the emergence of a new face of America that actually reflects our diverse
\nmakeup.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n
\nour place in this world community.\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span>What we saw in the hours and the days after your election was a jubilant
\nface of the world community, celebrating America’s triumph in this election.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>We saw the joyous dancing in your
\nother homeland, Kenya, even the declaring of a national holiday there.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Friends traveling through
\nMalaysia and Thailand told me about how strangers came up to them in an
\nairport, with a huge smile, and the one word that they had in common:\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>“Obaaamaaa, Obaaaaamaaa!”.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nand celebrated by people there as well?\u00a0<\/span>In a touching nod towards Martin Luther King, Jr., the
\nheadlines in a Canada newspaper read “A Dream Fulfilled.”\u00a0 <\/span>In China Daily, the headlines were
\n“Change has Come.”\u00a0 <\/span>In Germany, the
\nresponse of gratitude was more literal:\u00a0
\n<\/span>“Danke, Mr. President.”\u00a0
\n<\/span>Hindustan Times read:\u00a0
\n<\/span>“Change has Come to America.”\u00a0<\/span>The paper al-Safir in Lebanon read:\u00a0 <\/span>“Obama brings America to peace with
\nitself….and the world.”\u00a0<\/span>Another European newspaper’s headline said it most directly: “Eight
\nyears of hell are over!”<\/p>\n
\ncosmopolitan heritage, and make “Barack Hussein Obama” into a smear.\u00a0 <\/span>Something funny happened as soon as you
\nwere elected: \u00a0<\/span>in so many headlines
\naround the world, “Barack Hussein Obama” became not a smear, but a sign of a
\nnewfound cosmopolitanism, one to be celebrated indeed.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The majority of papers in the
\nMiddle East used this phrase, and honored your heritage on both your father’s
\nand your mother’s sides.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nunited.\u00a0<\/span>It wasn’t so
\nlong ago, though it feels<\/i> like so long ago:The immediate days after 9\/11.\u00a0<\/span>We remember those as the days of our national
\ngrief, but in reality there was also an outpouring of affection and grief from
\npeople all over the world.\u00a0<\/span>Nor did it just come from people whose political orientation was aligned
\nwith us.\u00a0<\/span>Do you
\nremember the candle-light vigil in the streets of Tehran?\u00a0<\/span>Do you remember the Tibetan nuns
\nsitting in silence, mourning?\u00a0<\/span>Do you remember how every Palestinian school child stood for minutes of
\nsilence to express how they too shared in our sorrow?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>We had the world community with us, until the
\nBush administration blew it, one by one alienating the world one step at a
\ntime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nto be a uniter.\u00a0 <\/span>And he was.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>He so alienated the
\nworld community that they were all united in hating us–or rather, our
\npolicies.\u00a0<\/span>You, Mr. President, have a golden moment.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>You have the support of people in this country, and in
\nthe world community.\u00a0<\/span>Here is
\nhoping that your choices are wiser and more compassionate that than of your
\npredecessor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\ncommunity, nor do we wish to be “the Empire” dominating the world and imposing
\nits will.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>We want to
\nbe a responsible member of the world community, paying our dues, and working
\nhand in hand with others in returning to an ethic of sharing and
\ngenerosity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Lead us,
\nand we will follow.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n
\nof the world community.\u00a0<\/span>The
\n“fierce urgency of the now” that you spoke about so eloquently indeed is now.\u00a0<\/p>\n