Re: 'In An Arab Country,Obama Would Be Called A Slave;Arabs Are The Epitome Of Racism
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Arabs' hope for Obama dented by doubts</font size><font size="4">
Staff picks, stance on Israel criticized as the status quo</font size></center>
A Palestinian reads the daily newspaper Al-Quds, with Barack Obama's election
victory on the front page, in Jerusalem's Old City. (Muhammed Muheisen / AP /
November 6, 2008)
Chicago Tribune
By Liz Sly | Tribune correspondent
1:15 AM CST, December 21, 2008
BEIRUT — His middle name might be Hussein, and without a doubt he is viewed more favorably than his predecessor. But President-elect Barack Obama isn't going to find it easy to win over a skeptical Arab world that is already starting to doubt whether he really will represent much change.
Many Arabs say their initial hopes that Obama would herald a new era in the Middle East have been tempered by some of his choices for key positions in his administration, and by his statements in support of Israel on the campaign trail.
Notably, his appointments of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff have drawn harsh criticism. Clinton has expressed far more hawkish views on the Middle East than Obama. Emanuel is Jewish, and his father had links to a militant Jewish organization in the 1940s.
"Obama's new team is a team of war, not of peace," Al-Quds al-Arabi, a London-based Palestinian newspaper, wrote in an editorial this month.
The level of skepticism came to the fore during a warmly received speech this month at the American University of Beirut by former President Jimmy Carter, who urged Obama to move more swiftly on the Arab-Israeli peace process than Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush did.
One of the biggest rounds of applause in the packed auditorium was reserved for a 21-year-old university graduate, Dana Ballout, who stood up and asked Carter whether he thought Obama would really make a difference. She cited a speech he made in support of Israeli positions to a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, and his appointment of Emanuel, whom she called "very right-wing."
Carter acknowledged her concerns.
"I was perhaps the most disturbed American out of 350 million Americans when he made that speech," Carter said of Obama's comments to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, in which he called for Jerusalem to remain the "undivided" capital of Israel, despite Palestinian claims to the eastern portion of the city.
He said he called Obama immediately to ask for clarification, which Obama offered, later appearing on CNN to explain that he meant that Jerusalem should not be divided by barbed wire or walls, not that Palestinians should lose their claim.
But those comments, as well as the appointments, have already significantly dented Arab expectations, said Diaa Rashwan, a political analyst at the Al-Ahram Center for Politics and Strategic Studies in Cairo.
"The first impressions of the president-elect were very positive, but over time a real skepticism has developed," he said. "Many commentators are saying now that they are not very optimistic."
It won't be hard for Obama to improve upon the image of Bush, whose unpopularity was graphically demonstrated last week when an Iraqi journalist threw a pair of shoes at him in Baghdad.
Obama has promised to restore America's relations with Muslims worldwide, telling the Tribune last week that he wants to "reboot America's image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular."
But to make a difference, Obama will have to do more than simply work on America's image, Rashwan said. He also will have to make substantive progress on many issues of concern to Arabs, "and foremost among those issues is the Palestinian question," he said. "Without dealing with that, we won't have any real amelioration of America's image."
Arab expectations of Obama were never as high as in some other parts of the world, in part because Arabs expect U.S. presidents to be strongly pro-Israel, said Rami Khouri, head of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, which hosted Carter.
"Substance and style are two different things," he said. "On style there's great hope. He does represent something new and refreshing. On substance he's said what every other U.S. president has said, which is, 'I love Israel.' "
Khouri said it is also unclear how much of a priority the Middle East will be for a president facing the demands of a crushing financial crisis at home and of two wars overseas.
Carter said he had received private assurances from Obama that he would act swiftly on the Arab-Israeli issue early in his term.
The former president also cited the appointment of retired Marine Gen. James Jones as national security adviser as an indication that Obama may adopt a more evenhanded approach than his predecessor. Jones has served as an adviser to the Palestinian security forces and has a good understanding of the region, Carter said.
But Ballout said in an interview after listening to Carter that she remained discouraged about Obama.
"He's gone out of his way to prove that he's not a Muslim. It makes me more skeptical about him, because he's scared of being seen as sympathetic to Arabs, and that's dangerous for us," she said.
"In the Arab world, a lot of us like Obama," she added. "But we don't feel he represents a change in Mideast policy at all."
lsly@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-mideast_slydec21,0,4214262.story
Thats what was said.
