Not only that, but the guys who really hate Americans and want to kill them are rarely the ones who blow themselves up. By improving the American image among the recruiting pool those guys draw from, it makes it harder for them to find people willing to blow themselves up to kill Americans. Maybe then bin Laden and his ilk would have to do their own dirty work.

Reaching out to Muslims is one of those touchy-feely things that will never affect the desire of the radical few Muslims who want to kill non-Muslims.

No, but it does have some potential to affect how much cooperation and information the authorities can get from the non-radical many Muslims who don’t, but who know something about those who do.