Continuing yesterday's theme about the growing irrelevance of Al Qaeda, here's President Obama in an interview with Al-Arabiya:

They seem nervous. I think that when you look at the rhetoric that they've been using against me before I even took office -- what that tells me is that their ideas are bankrupt. There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them. In my inauguration speech, I spoke about: You will be judged on what you've built, not what you've destroyed. And what they've been doing is destroying things. And over time, I think the Muslim world has recognized that that path is leading no place, except more death and destruction.

The fact that this was the first television interview of his Presidency and it went to an Arab media outlet is in some ways an olive branch in itself. Sure, there's some outrage from the far right and they're going to have a field day with the comments about Muslim relatives, but Obama can't let that distract him from his larger goal of engaging the Muslim world. We're going to have to get used to that kind of harmless hysteria (just try to avoid the comments section on any website referencing this interview).

And if you read the full transcript of the interview, there are some very real indications that Obama knows what he is doing and is willing to put in the effort to make diplomacy work. This seems like such a novel approach after the reality we had grown accustomed to—one characterized by divisive rhetoric and a President who approached foreign policy as if he were the lead a cheesy cowboy flick—but this is the approach many people have wanted for years. Of course diplomacy works. Of course we should be engaging, rather than alienating, moderate Muslims. What seems like a radical concept is just a return to sanity. It's just been so long that it feels foreign and new.

Then again, I don't know if many people could pull this off other than Obama. What he's trying to accomplish involves a fundamental shift in global relations, and the roots of the distrust and animosity on both sides reach deep into our respective cultures. Obama appears to be taking the long, more difficult, road. It remains to be seen whether that appearance is deceiving, if he'll ultimately revert to the status quo, but his background and natural talents give him an inherent advantage. McCain couldn't have pulled off what Obama is trying to accomplish. I don't think Clinton could have, either.

UPDATE: Or, if you want a pro's take on the interview, see Andrew Sullivan. He says what I would like to say, if only I had the capacity to say it that way.