[Dialogue] Arab Obamania?

Harry Wainwright h-wainwright at charter.net
Fri Feb 23 14:54:33 EST 2007


Arab Obamania?

African-American US presidential candidate Barack Obama is a phenomenon but
is doing what American politicians do: supporting Israel. Amira
<mailto:%20ahoweidy at ahram.org.eg?subject=International%20::%20Arab%20Obamani
a?>  Howeidy asks if the Arabs should care 

  _____  

Barack Hussein Obama, the Democratic African-American senator and US
presidential candidate has been a boon for American media the past few
months. Everything about him screams for TV attention: from his melting-pot
roots (son of a Muslim Kenyan immigrant, white American mother, born in
Hawaii, childhood in Indonesia with Muslim Indonesian stepfather,
adolescence with white American grandparents, growing up to become a
Christian Black American) to his charisma, good looks, eloquence and
youthful age (45). 

With such a profile it is little wonder the American media has been obsessed
with Obama long before he made his presidential candidacy announcement 10
February. And importantly -- at least in Obama's view -- he demonstrated
foresight when he opposed the war in Iraq in 2002, in contrast to his two
Democratic presidential opponents Senator Hillary Clinton and former Senator
John Edwards who voted for the war.

But Obama's appeal extends beyond his roots and his consistent anti-war
stance. This is a man who knows the power of words and demonstrates great
skill in addressing the public. In his 2004 keynote address at the National
Democratic Convention, Obama made his impression by not only questioning the
war on Iraq but also calling for national unity in America. Widespread media
coverage of his speech won him immediate celebrity status. It hasn't faded
since; indeed, continues to grow, becoming what is now known as "Obamania".

And with Obamania comes debate that appears certain to make the 2008
American presidential elections the most exciting in decades. Whether or not
Obama will make it to the primaries, let alone the Oval Office, is
questionable, but what is known is that this is the only presidential
candidate who says: "the ways of Washington must change" -- something that
many of us in this part of the world would like to believe possible.

And yet the US presidential race, which at this early stage is already
centered around an issue of crucial importance to Arabs -- the war on Iraq,
has had absolutely no resonance in the Arab world. Meanwhile, debate on the
website of the Israeli daily Haaretz continues to rage on the pros and cons
of Obama. Is he emotionally attached to Israel? Why should American Jews
vote for him? How can Jews trust him given his Muslim heritage?

The debate was triggered by Obama's statements to Haaretz on how the US is
obliged to support Israel in defending itself against "enemies sworn to its
destruction". "Obama will soon make the case that he'll be as strong on
Israel as anyone," Haaretz US correspondent Shmuel Rosner explained in a 16
February commentary. "Let's just say it: Jewish voters are major donors to
the Democratic Party and its nominees," Rosner added. 

Obama's speedy assurances to Jewish voters only a few days following his
presidential announcement comes as no surprise, says Gamil Mattar director
of the Arab Centre for Development and Future Research. "[Pledging loyalty
to Israel] is key to entering the primaries. This is what every American
politician has to do and then 20 years later he can write a book like
[former US President Jimmy] Carter saying what he really thinks [of
Israel]."

In his column, Rosner tried to explain why panelists in the Israeli Factor
Project -- a Haaretz project that rates potential presidential contenders in
the 2008 race for the White House based on their attitudes towards Israel --
weren't giving Obama, a "bright, charismatic and viable candidate", high
marks. It's because they need more "time to trust him", panelists told
Rosner.

In the "About the Israeli Factor Project" section of Haaretz online, the
paper explains its interest in the US presidential elections. "As the US is
the sole world superpower, the influence wielded by the American president
impacts way beyond the borders of the US. As a major recipient of US aid and
political support, Israel is one country for whom the positions and policies
of the American president are crucial. Like the rest of the world, Israelis
closely follow the race for the presidency, acutely aware that the person
who inhabits the White House will influence their future more that any other
world leader -- perhaps, even more than their own leaders."

Although this should hold for the Arabs as well -- perhaps more now than at
any previous point in modern Arab history -- both the Arab media and
governments don't appear to be paying attention. True, Arab media was
ecstatic when the Democrats won control of Congress last November. The Arab
world, indeed, is fed up with Republican President George W Bush and his
foreign policy failures that have proven damaging primarily to Arabs. 

Similarly when the House of Representatives voted 16 February 246-182 to
pass a non-binding resolution criticizing President Bush's plan to send more
than 20,000 additional US combat troops to Iraq, the most popular Arabic TV
station Al-Jazeera -- in clear schadenfreude spirit -- kept flashing the
result on its screens all evening as "breaking news".

Clearly developments in Washington matter to us. So why is Arab media
ignoring the most important election in America? Isn't this the election
that will augur big decisions on Iraq, the Palestinians and soon-to-come
political changes in the Arab world's most populous country, Egypt? Isn't
the entire democracy issue in Egypt hinged on who will be sitting in the
Oval Office next year?

"Absolutely," says former Egyptian ambassador to the US Abdel-Raouf El-Ridi.
"It's of vital importance for us in the Arab world and we really ought to
pay attention to the presidential race. But then we really don't pay
attention to a lot of important issues, even when they matter to us." 

According to Manar El-Shorbagi, a specialist on American political affairs
and professor at the American University in Cairo, this apathy results from
only looking at US politics through the lens of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"If it isn't related to us we look away. We never pay attention to issues
like immigration and other American domestic issues. But then there is no
such thing as foreign policy in the US -- its all local. You can't
understand whatever is going on until you follow the discourse and if it's
going left or right," El-Shorbagi told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Although Obama's chances of winning are shaky, El-Shorbagi thinks Arabs
ought to pay attention to all presidential candidates, even at this early
stage of campaigning, not least because those who fall in the first stages
of the campaign will likely resurface four years later. "President Richard
Nixon ran for president against John Kennedy and lost early, then surfaced
as president later... This could be the case for Obama."

But why would the Jewish lobby in the US be interested in Obama? And why
aren't we, despite his Muslim and African roots? "The Israelis are doing
their homework and we're not. They take all candidates seriously," says
El-Shorbagi.

But there's another side of the story. Although black-Jewish relations in
the US are generally marked by tension, Obama is a winning case argues
El-Shorbagi precisely because of his Muslim-African background. "He avoided
it completely in his presidential announcement," she said.

"The pro-Israel lobby in the US is looking for people who can be won by
them. Obama is a winning case because of these different traits in him.
Because he wants to win mainstream Americans, and as anti-war he's a winning
case... Because he is black he has to prove he's not anti-Semitic; because
his father is Muslim he has to overdo that element. The Arabs, on the other
hand are doing the opposite, and not playing up the sides of him that make
then relate to him."

In fact, the Arabs aren't doing anything at all although Obama's history is
replete with political stands that -- if they remain unchanged -- will be of
great service to Arab interests should he become the first black American
president. In a remarkable speech at an anti-war rally organized by the
ANSWER coalition in 2002, Obama predicted that "an invasion of Iraq without
a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the
flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best,
impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al-Qaeda."

Obama also challenged Bush to fight, with vigor if not violence, to ensure
American "so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians,
stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating
corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies." He further
challenged Bush to wean Americans off Middle East oil through an energy
policy that doesn't simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil.

That was over four years ago and much has changed in American politics
since. "We're witnessing some very unconventional scenes in the US," says
Mattar. "We're seeing the first woman presidential hopeful against a black
presidential hopeful. In the years to come we might even see the first
Hispanic presidential candidate." 

For now, just how such dramatic internal changes in the world's sole
superpower will impact a Middle East made incendiary by recent US policies
remains to be seen.

C a p t i o n : Barack Hussein Obama 

C Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/833/in2.htm 

 

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