Obama reaches out, world reacts

Overwhelmed, as Barack Obama's audiences usually are. Only this time there were more international listeners than Americans.

Very aptly, one Pakistani blogger asked: Is there no country where he wouldn't win an election?

Within an hour of US President Barack Obama's historic speech in Egypt, reactions flooded in from across the world. Not surprising, since Obama's administration had made a huge effort to make the speech available to millions.

It was webcast live on the White House website, translated into 13 languages, texted free in 4 languages to people across the world.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's attempt just before Obama's speech did nothing to turn off audiences. "They have done things which have inflicted blows on people and deeply wounded and annoyed people of the region. A word, speech and slogans cannot take this resentment, pain and deep-seated hatred away. Action is needed," Khamenei said.

Obama's one speech seemed to have covered a lot of ground: Muslims, Afghanistan, Al-Qaida, Iraq, democracy, Palestine. Though there was nothing ground-breaking in his comments, he seemed to have impressed many.

Said Yehuda Poch, an Israeli resident: "I never thought that President Obama was going to be a tremendous friend of the State of Israel.

Words can be powerful and at a time when he has little else to offer the Muslim world, President Obama was at his eloquent best convincingly portraying America as a friend of Islam. It is safe to assume that, the people of the Islamic world like what they see and hear, especially in comparison with what came before.

But like their American counterparts, they will have to wait and see if Obama can convert an impossibly appealing vision into a concrete plan of action.