BARACK OBAMA WOWS TO REACH OUT TO MUSLIM

PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK HUSSIEN OBAMA

The President-elect's first interview with a newspaper since his election focuses on his presidency being an opportunity for the U.S. to renovate its relations with the Muslim world.

Barack Obama says his presidency is an opportunity for the U.S. to renovate its relations with the Muslim world, starting the day of his inauguration and continuing with a speech he plans to deliver in an Islamic capital.
Obama tells the Chicago Tribune, "I think we've got a unique opportunity to reboot America's image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular." And when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20, he plans to be sworn in like every other president, using his full name: Barack Hussein Obama.
"I think we've got a unique opportunity to reboot America's image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular,'' Obama said Tuesday, promising an "unrelenting" desire to "create a relationship of mutual respect and partnership in countries and with peoples of good will who want their citizens and ours to prosper together."
One simple matter comes down to three little words, and on them he has made up his mind: he won't shrink from using his full name when he takes the oath of office.

During the campaign, Obama's detractors would often invoke his middle name, Hussein, in an attempt to falsely paint him as a Muslim. Obama, a Christian, doesn't care. "I think the tradition is that they use all three names, and I will follow the tradition," he said. "I'm not trying to make a statement one way or another. I'll do what everybody else does.''

The world, he said, "is ready for that message."

CHICAGO TRIBUNE