From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone.

On Monday, President Obama gave his first formal interview as commander-in-chief

to the Dubai-based Al-Jazeera competitor, Al-Arabia.

My job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be language of respect.

In the 17-minute discussion, Obama also addressed the future of Israel and Palestine, a nuclear-armed Iran, and the demonization of America in the Middle East.

Reactions reverberated around the world to the first presidential interview,

but we were curious about the reaction of the interviewer,

al-Arabi's Washington bureau chief, Hisham Milham.

He didn't know he'd be interviewing the president at 5 p.m. on Monday until 9 a.m. that morning. And when he found out,

well, he felt kind of lucky, ecstatic, exhilarated, under pressure. Did you feel ready?

You're always ready because I've been mentally ready for this since the moment he announced that he's

going to address the Muslim world from the heart of a Muslim capital within the first 100 days. At that time, I began to mobilize my friends,

people who knew him, worked with them, urging them, arm-twisting them, telling them to say,

you know, good thing about me. But I never thought that he will give it to us that early.

So on Monday, when someone from the National Security Council said,

I'm going to either make your day or ruin your day,

don't tell this to anybody except your people in Dubai.

The president would like to see you at 5 o'clock this afternoon.

And I laughed.

I said, we have a full schedule, but I think I can accommodate the president.

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