President Obama to give Middle East Speech Thursday the State Department

President Obama will give a speech on his vision for the Middle East on Thursday from the State Department, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced Friday.

The speech will be at the diplomatic nerve center in Washington and the president is expected to speak broadly about his policy for the region.

"I'm sure it will be fairly sweeping and comprehensive speech about what we've all been privileged enough to witness since January," Carney said.

Earlier in the week the White House pushed back on any characterization of the speech being an outreach to the Muslim world.

Carney would not give details on whether the president will address the Israeli and Palestinian conflict.

The president will likely touch on waves of democracy movements that happened in Egypt, Tunisia and continue to rumble through Syria and Libya.

The Middle East is already filling up Obama's schedule next week - he's slated to meet with King Abdullah of Jordan on Tuesday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday.

Details of the speech came as the administration's key special Mideast envoy George Mitchell announced plans to resign. The president is expected to release a paper statement on Friday, but the White House would not divulge any details on a possible replacement.

The Associated Press reports that Mitchell is leaving for personal reasons.