White House aides told ABC's Jake Tapper that President Obama "cast a wide net" when seeking advice for what to say in his speech later today at Cairo University in Egypt. Tapper gives a preview here. The speech will be broadcast live around the world at around 6:10 AM Eastern US time, and livestreamed from the White House. The White House is also using all kinds of other social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, etc., to disseminate the speech to a global audience; links are on the site. (Above: President Obama and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, during a meeting at the presidential palace in Cairo; Egypt is more than ten hours ahead of the US)When speaking at Notre Dame's commencement two weeks ago, Obama noted that "we are all fishermen." Given this piece on "The Emergence of President Obama's Muslim Roots" by Tapper, which hit the internets yesterday to immediate pushback, it's obvious why the fisherman theme is getting embedded in administration talking points; it highlights the President's Christianity.
These American journos are doing a swell job tweeting the President's trip: @edhenrycnn @cbellantoni @michaelscherer @jaketapper @mikeallen. Allen even posted a video on Politico of his dinner at the Riyadh Marriott yesterday; he's videoblogging the trip. These kind of media foodie hijinks were also going on during the President's trip to Europe, when the press was kept far, far away from the official meetings once the G20 got underway.
