Obama Travels to the Middle East

(CNN) -- President Obama travels to the Middle East on Tuesday in an effort to repair a damaged U.S. image -- and seemingly reset relations with the Muslim world.

President Obama will give a crucial speech in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday.

It's a process that has been in the works since his first week in office.

"My job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect," Obama said in a January interview with Al-Arabiya television network. "I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries."

In a speech to the Turkish Parliament, Obama tried to make a clean break from the rhetoric of the Bush era.

"So let me say this as clearly as I can: The United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam," he said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/02/obam...