In the Mideast, Obama Gets Warm Early Reviews

• Share

As President Barack Obama's new Middle East envoy held talks with Egyptian leaders across town on Wednesday, students at Cairo University were offering their views of the new U.S. President — and the very mention of his name brought warm smiles and delight to their eyes. They like Obama. Even Omar Youssef, 20, who earlier this month had joined angry protests, tinged with anti-American sentiment, against Israel's war in Gaza, is impressed by what he's heard about Obama thus far. "He's a man of diplomacy and speaks well," Youssef explains, standing around the corner from Egyptian security vehicles crammed with riot police in case more protests erupt. "Bush, Arab people hate him. But the world needs a man like Obama." (See pictures of people around the world watching Obama's Inauguration.)

The 100-year-old campus, where the American flag has been ritually burned for decades — especially during the Bush presidency, when students protested Israeli attacks on Palestinian territories and Lebanon as well as the U.S. invasion of Iraq — is a good barometer of public opinion across the Arab world. Interviews with dozens of students found only disdain for Bush but an unhesitating enthusiasm for Obama. Many cited the new President's Muslim and African roots as reasons for optimism about a change in the way Washington deals with the world, while others said they had closely followed Obama's first steps in office and praised his moves to close Guantánamo, plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and efforts to encourage Israel to ease the blockade against the Palestinians of Gaza. "Maybe if he can solve the problem between white and black people in America, he can also solve the problem between Arab and Jewish people here," says Ahmed Mahmoud, 20. (See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East.)

Similar hopes are being voiced throughout the region by Arab diplomats, scholars, writers and bloggers, many of whom expressed surprise at the speed and content of Obama's initial moves on the Middle East. Rami G. Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, says it is "hugely symbolic" that the Obama Administration selected former Senator George Mitchell, an Arab American, to be its Middle East envoy. "Mitchell is credible, tough, patient and fair," he says. "Obama has quickly repositioned the U.S. as a more neutral and active player in Arab-Israeli peacemaking."

Others cite Obama's interview on the satellite channel al-Arabiya on Tuesday, in which he vowed to speak a "language of respect" when addressing the Muslim world. In declaring that "Americans are not your enemy," he seemed to relish the chance to challenge al-Qaeda leaders, who have called him an enemy of Islam, on Arab airwaves. "What he did campaigning in the U.S. he is trying to do in the Middle East, convincing people that he is on their side," says al-Arabiya general manager Abdul Rahman al-Rashed. "He is telling Muslims that he is proud of his Muslim roots. This is being received positively." Adds Jamil Nimri, writing in the Amman daily al-Ghad newspaper: "The language of force, conceit and threat has totally disappeared." (Read "How al-Arabiya Got the Obama Interview.")

Such dramatically changed perceptions of the U.S. leadership are a source of immense relief for moderate Arab governments, which have felt increasingly squeezed between U.S. administrations with which they sought to work, and public sentiment that has turned increasingly anti-American. Former Jordanian official Bassem Awadallah says Obama's quick plunge into Arab-Israeli peacemaking is a welcome change after the Bush Administration, which waited until nearly its final year in office to become actively engaged in Middle East diplomacy. "Leaders of moderate counties like Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia will be thrilled to see the commitment that Obama is making," he says. "A lot of America's friends paid a heavy price for the low American image on the Arab street. When Obama speaks of respect and dialogue, that resonates very well even with some of the harshest critics of American policy. He is capturing the imagination of this part of the world."

At Cairo University, however, some students expressed a common belief that American bias toward Israel is so strong that no U.S. President, not even Obama, will ever treat Arabs fairly. Obama's fate in public opinion, as the President himself acknowledged on al-Arabiya, will depend less on what he says than on his achievements — a fair Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement, for example, or a full U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Chatting with friends on a bench outside the campus gate, engineering student Ahmed Mamdouh, 20, said he hates Americans and Israelis but admitted to having a soft spot for America's new leader. "I like Obama," he says. "Because his father was a Muslim, I think he will appreciate us more." Then he added, "I hope he will be better than Bush. But we have to wait and see about that. He hasn't really done anything yet."

See pictures of Barack Obama behind the scenes on Inauguration Day.

See pictures of Barack Obama's family tree.