President Obama in Cairo: Video and Transcript

CSPAN still wins this race hands down. It's been slightly over an hour since the Cairo speech ended, slightly after 8 am EDT and no video or transcript have been posted in the official websites yet. But cspan has both! See the transcript here of President Obama's Cairo speech (pdf). Or you can read the speech online here.

President Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University and spoke about U.S. relations with, and outreach to, the Muslim world. He spoke about finding “common ground” and “a new beginning” with the Muslim world. He also characterized the military occupation of Iraq a "war of choice," called on Muslim nations to confront "violent extremists," encouraged Iran to negotiate with the West on the future of its nuclear program, and said the U.S. was committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

At the CO.NX webcast, 600 participants from 30 countries came together in a State Department sponsored "room" to discuss the speech prior to and after the President's delivery. There would have been space for 400 more. After the speech, an online poll indicates the following: 97%: speech met their expectations; 3%: speech did not meet their expectations. One participant says: "it represented what we have always thought the American people were, but the last 10 years were too much for all of us." The discussion started about two hours before the speech and continued for well over an hour after the speech concluded. The State Department CO.NX moderators were excellent, and only kicked out one disruptive participant from the online event.