Brian Williams Obama Interview

Brian Williams Obama Interview – NBC’s Brian Williams will air “Inside The Obama White House” part II on Wednesday, June 3 at 9 p.m..Williams had a very long interview with the president.Here are some highlights along with the videos.
WILLIAMS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA:

You’re about to give a speech to the Muslim world, really, the tent pole of this big trip you’re embarking on. It’s been said it’s a speech that your predecessor perhaps could not have given constitutionally, given who he is, and could not have given because the attack came on his watch. Other than your personal style, what has changed to enable you to give this address?

OBAMA:

Well, you know, I’m not sure that it’s true that President Bush couldn’t have given a speech in the Muslim world. A U.S. President, even where there’s a lot of tension in various parts of the world, is always, is always received as a critical figure in world economics and politics, and people want to know what they have to say. So I wouldn’t suggest that somehow I’m uniquely positioned to deliver this speech.
And I also don’t want to, you know, load up too many expectations on this speech. After all, one speech is not going to transform very real policy differences and some very difficult issues surrounding the Middle East and the relationship between Islam and the west. But I am confident that we’re in a moment where in Islamic countries, I think there is a recognition that the path of extremism is not actually going to deliver a better life for people. I think there’s a recognition that simply being anti-American is not going to solve their problems. The steps we’re taking now to leave Iraq takes that issue and defuses it a little bit. And the question then is how do we now go forward with a honest, serious relationship based on mutual respect and mutual interest? And so what I hope will happen as a consequence of this speech is people will have a better sense of how America views its relationship to the broader world and to Islam. I do hope that we can start opening a dialogue that will be more constructive moving forward.

BRIAN WILLIAMS:

And back here at the White House, the President’s helicopter lifting off from here tonight on the first leg of the most important trip of his presidency thus far. He will mark the D-Day anniversary, among other things, and he will fulfill a promise to make a speech to the Muslim world. The President flies from Washington to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, then on to the speech at Cairo university. He makes two more stops, in Germany and France, for the D-Day events before returning to the U.S. on Sunday. When I spoke to him today, I asked him about the importance of this particular speech.

WILLIAMS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA:

You’re about to give a speech to the Muslim world, really, the tent pole of this big trip you’re embarking on. It’s been said it’s a speech that your predecessor perhaps could not have given constitutionally, given who he is, and could not have given because the attack came on his watch. Other than your personal style, what has changed to enable you to give this address?