January 27th 2009
Obama, Al-Arabia And The U.S. Media
W
ith Barack Obama, perhaps more than any president in recent times, symbols are important, from his very own logo to where he gives his first presidential interview. As such, the interview with the Al-Arabia TV network is symbolism of a very high order.
Comments on the transcript at Al-Arabia bear this out:
Great interview. Cant wait for the months ahead and the speech in the muslim country he talks about……….
Please do not miss the meaning of the fact that the very first interview he gives as President of the United States, is to Al-Arabiya.
This is the best Arab and Muslim world is going to get from West. He is I think sincere and want to change the relationships for good. Believe me he is taking a very high political risk and if Arab and Muslim world do not respond in Kind then I think no peace for next 50 years
well done Barack
Despite some reservations about what he said, I’ll echo that last comment: Well done, Barack. Not everyone agrees:
Guess who B. Hussein Obama is doing his very first formal TV interview as president with? Just guess. If I’m an Israeli, I would run, not walk, early and often, to vote for Binyamn Netanyahu for president there, because there ain’t no way that Obama is gonna support Israel when push comes to shove — so, therefore, the Israelis will need their leader to be a guy who is willing to do the pushing and shoving on his own regardless of whether the American president gives his okay. (American Spectator blog)
Certainly, friends of Israel have reason for concern both with the symbolism and the content of the interview. They would have preferred the interview be with Haaretz, but I see Obama’s point. He wanted something big and this was packed with more symbolism than any other symbol he could have chosen. Not that I didn’t clench my teeth when I read stuff like this:
But if we start the steady progress on these [Israeli/Palestinian] issues, I’m absolutely confident that the United States — working in tandem with the European Union, with Russia, with all the Arab states in the region — I’m absolutely certain that we can make significant progress.
I’m sorry; did I miss it when he mentioned Israel? And there was this:
Look at the proposal that was put forth by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia — I might not agree with every aspect of the proposal, but it took great courage — to put forward something that is as significant as that.
Significant? Like giving up land for peace? Tried that. Didn’t work out too well. But it’s an idea Obama likes:
… I also believe that there are Israelis who recognize that it is important to achieve peace. They will be willing to make sacrifices if the time is appropriate and if there is serious partnership on the other side.
That’s not change; that’s land for peace. Obama says in a portion of the interview that’s critical of Bush that he understands that words are important; these words are telling Israel, even with the obligatory “I will continue to believe that Israel’s security is paramount,” that Obama will be asking them to trust the Arabs once again.
Kick the football, Charlie Brown!
I realize that saying “Israel aside, …” is enough to throw many of my readers into convulsions, and I’m certainly not ready to put Israel aside. But, Israel aside, there is a larger picture. I would like to see little neo-con Americas springing up from Mogadishu to Tashkent, but since that’s not scheduled for this week, a different approach to the Muslim world is worth trying. I’m not at all confident it will work because history gives me no faith in the idea of Arabs working honestly and keeping their word when it comes to Israel, and because al Qaeda leadership doesn’t give a hoot about Obama and what he says.
But go ahead, Obama. Give it a shot. You might win. But if you fail, don’t fail Israel. Just learn a lesson about the limits of charisma.
Meanwhile, AP’s coverage of the interview was, in a word, disgusting. It was all of what we’ve come to expect of AP of late: Blame for everything wrong in the world lies at the feet of George W. Bush, and Obama is the beginning of everything right:
CAIRO, Egypt – President Barack Obama chose an Arabic-language satellite TV network for his first formal television interview as president, delivering a message Tuesday to the Muslim world that “Americans are not your enemy.”
The interview taped Monday underscored Obama’s commitment to repair relations with the Muslim world that have suffered under the previous administration.
As I recall it, relations suffered under the previous administration because a group of guys from the Muslim world killed over 3,000 of us and would have taken out our president if it weren’t for a couple of our guys yelling, “Let’s roll!”
But no, to AP the problems all lay on Bush, even as they tried to push Obama’s choice to go on Al-Arabia as breakthrough while acknowledging that Bush had gone there before:
During his presidency, former President George W. Bush gave several interviews to Al-Arabiya but the wars he launched in Iraq and Afghanistan prompted a massive backlash against the U.S. in the Muslim world.
Again, no reference to the base cause of all this – Islamists – even though the interviewer opened the door by mentioning 9/11.
For his part, neither did Obama mention 9/11, but I can understand that. He’s going for breaking new ground, and he’s right not to bring up 9/11 in interview number one. But neither can he ignore it. It’s there and all that it stands for – jihad, hatred of the Great Satan – is still very much a part of the Islamic world.
There was an other comment on the Al-Arabia transcript that shows just how difficult this all is:
Please Mr President … make sure you meet with and listen to Hamas.
Yes, the terrorists who hold the Gaza Strip. And the nuke-crazy mullahs in Tehran. And the radical mosque funding Saudis. And the resurgent Hezbullah terrorists in Lebanon. And the Taliban sympathizers in Pakistan. And the terror spawning grounds of Somalia and Yemen. And the school girl beheaders in Indonesia.
And on and on and on it goes. Not symbols, but really dangerous real world stuff. Obama started symbolically, and more power to him for doing so. I really hope he can capitalize his change image and truly change the Muslim world’s view of us and of jihad.
But when that fails, and the chances of failure are very great, I pray that he doesn’t try to pull a dangerous agreement out of the failure, but rather, recognizes it for what it is and sees the need to make a change of direction we can believe in.
Posted in Foreign policy, Islam, Media bias, Obama | 2 Comments » | |
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Comments
January 27th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I cannnot believe that he is in arabia the first week in office !!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow! He truly is Muslim and the american media will alawys protect him!!! i question my own faith in our government
January 27th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Does he even care about the american economy/