Obama's Middle East Tour

President Obama began his 5 day tour of the Middle East today. Right now the president is in Saudi Arabia and tomorrow he is set to give a major speech from Cairo, Egypt to address the Muslim World. The tour is intended as a way for Obama to push for progress on the longstanding Arab-Israeli conflict and also as an opportunity for the president to try to repair the United States' image in the Middle East.

Although the president has barely arrived in Saudi Arabia, the op-ed mill has been abuzz with what Obama should say and do (including these 7 opinions published today in the NYTimes). Also just in time for Obama's steps off the plane, a new audio message attributed to Osama bin Laden was broadcast on Al-Jazeera. The message focused mainly on Obama's increased effort to go after the Taliban forces in Pakistan, but also criticized the president for following in the footsteps of George Bush and increasing international animosity towards muslims.

In the wake of a new president and what many people across the globe perceive as a new era in american politics, I wonder how bin Laden's view of Obama will be perceived? George Bush was notoriously unpopular throughout the world, which was a boon to terrorist recruiters like the Taliban, but will bin Laden's criticism of Obama just come across as terribly off-base?