President Barack Obama’s first formal television interview came just days after his inauguration. The lucky network was Dubai-based Arabic news channel Al-Arabiya. This was a most unexpected move, and caught most everyone completely aback.

The move, however, is an enlightened one. Al-Arabiya was set up specifically to compete with Al-Jazeera, whose reporting many consider biased and slanted. While Al-Jazeera seeks to actively counter what it perceives as anti-Arab bias in Western media, Al-Arabiya’s goal is to be an impartial moderate voice. Thus, if Al-Jazeera is the Arab World’s Fox News, Al-Arabiya, boasting 40 million viewers, is its CNN. By simply granting this exclusive interview to Al-Arabiya, Obama showed he is serious about reaching out to the Arab World and also that he values measured journalistic fairness and will not associate himself with sensationalism.

His interview message built on his inaugural address, which was the first ever to mention the Muslim world, and contributed to his already high standing in the Middle East. In the sit-down interview with Al-Arabiya Washington Bureau Chief Hisham Melhem, Obama highlighted his goal to have a personal role in Middle Eastern peace.

He mentioned sending George Mitchell as special envoy to the region, a move which has already been met with almost universal praise. Former Sen. Mitchell was instrumental in bringing peace to northern Ireland, and is respected worldwide as a fair, capable, and judicious architect of peace.

Particularly noteworthy was the president’s description of Mitchell’s mission.

“We cannot tell [the Israelis and Palestinians] what’s best,” he said.

This will be a marked departure from some of his predecessors, who sought to persuade both sides to simply agree with U.S.-devised or supported plans. Obama instead seeks to, amazingly, listen to the concerns of both sides, and not road test any proposed plan with Israel first. This does not mean Israel’s importance will be diminished, as its “security will be paramount,” but that the legitimate Palestinian government and the Israeli government will each have its fair say. Characteristic of his visionary optimism, the president also mentioned the importance of looking to the future and not the past. In a region and process fraught with a legacy of violence and betrayals, the idea of looking forward might be the most crucial directive of all in the quest for lasting peace.

The language used in the interview also highlighted a new direction for the United States in the region. Instead of using terms like “Islamofascism” and “War on Terror” so favored by his predecessor, Obama described the United State’s current actions rightly as a war on Al-Qaeda and its allies. He also described Al-Qaeda as “nervous,” highlighting the group’s verbal attacks on him before he became president. Careful to give everyday Arabs credit for largely disregarding Al-Qaeda’s violent message, he likened the group’s so-called nervousness as indication that their ideas were “bankrupt.” The change of language is no trivial matter. It is true that the actions of the previous administration kept the country safe from terror attacks after Sept. 11, 2001.

However, its charged rhetoric that associated the whole of a religion with the violence born of a few twisted minds alienated and offended many in the Arab World. It also contributed to the dislike of America that was already fomenting after the invasion of Iraq. Obama’s new foreign policy diction is not changing America’s actions against terrorists – they will still, in his words, be hunted down.

But the softening and correction of U.S. rhetoric to more accurately reflect what its actions intend to be will go a long way to improve the reputation of this country and its government in the eyes of millions of peaceful Arabs who, as the president said, simply want to live a good life and have their children live a better life.

The interview also touched on what may be the most ambitious short-term goal of the new president – to address the Muslim world from a Muslim Capitol. While the exact capitol is still a tightly guarded secret, Obama did elucidate where the speech would fall in his greater plan to reach out to the Middle East.

He highlighted his experience of living in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, saying that regardless of faith, people everywhere have common dreams. In a very candid moment unimaginable at times from his predecessor, Obama described America as “imperfect” and that our government has made mistakes in the past.

Regardless, he stressed that America is not the enemy. It is the only Western power with no colonial legacy in the Middle East, a fact that won the U. S. much respect in the Arab world. While the recent invasions and their fallout have undone much of that high standing, Obama believes it can be restored.

“I will be judged by my actions,” he said.

To that end, the future speech is part of a series of actions that includes the already-announced closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay and the eventual drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq to give that country more control over its internal affairs.

Overall, this was a phenomenal interview. Eschewing the everyman image and “our country, right or wrong” attitude of his predecessor, Obama discussed the complicated events of the Middle East like a learned scholar and a natural diplomat. Many of his plans in the region have already been implemented with good feedback at home and abroad. If the whole of his vision for the Middle East can be fulfilled, it will undoubtedly be one of the greatest achievements of any American president.

Munim Deen is a microbiology and pre-med senior. His column usually appears every other Friday.