Via the NYT…
President Obama has said he chose Cairo to address the Muslim world, not just the Arab world. But while officials at the university and in the government have expressed delight at the president’s visit, people around campus and the city were skeptical that much would change in relations between the West and the Muslim world.
“Just leave us to concentrate on our exams,” said an 18-year-old student who would give only her first name, Dina. “I’m not expecting anything. Americans don’t like us and we don’t like them. They think we’re terrorists, and we don’t like them because of what they’re doing in Iraq.”
Most heads of state coming to Egypt head to the Red Sea resort area of Sharm el Sheik, which is far easier to secure than any venue in the middle of a city of 18 million people. But the consensus here — and in Washington — was that the president needed to be in Cairo if he had any hope of his speech resonating on the street.
It remains a tough audience.
“They are cleaning things they have never cleaned before,” said Amira Abbas, 18, who had just finished a sociology exam. “I don’t understand why he’s visiting. What does he have to say to the Muslim world? He’s new, and he wants to improve the image of the U.S. in the Muslim world.”