Why Obama and Not McCain?

I cannot hide my sympathy towards the Democratic candidate Barack Obama, even though I cannot help him in this political fight. And my voting will not change anything concerning Obama’s chances. But as I have noticed that Barack has widespread support within Arab countries, I attempted to investigate the reason why. It’s true that there is a global concern about the American elections due to the country’s chief role on the international sphere, the effectiveness of its media in the world and also the prolonged presidential election system where candidates are tested in many debates and this makes everyone want to watch. These are some reasons to explain, one way or the other, the international concern about any American election, but it does not answer the question: why are the Arab and Islamic worlds biased towards Obama?

I say that one of the most important reasons that the majority of the Arab and Islamic worlds support Obama is because he is an alternative to the current president, George W. Bush. I mean that the terrible reputation of the current president, please don’t misunderstand me, has pushed the majority to welcome anyone other than him. And it’s not necessarily admiration for Obama but hatred of Bush as the president’s reputation has hit bottom in the Arab and Islamic worlds, and then came the financial collapse in the United States to dispel what remained of any positive opinion for the man even within his own country. This negative reputation for Bush has not just turned people against him and his party, but it has clouded over the Republican candidate who wants to succeed him in the position.

I cannot separate how his black color, his African race and minority status in America are effective reasons to make people lean towards Obama, despite the fact that he has disowned his Muslim father and he never forgets to mention that he was baptized as a Christian and is undoubtedly loyal to his church. But the existence of the father in his background was another reason for this sympathy in the Islamic world.

Obama has an attractive platform that encourages people to vote for him; his stance to have unconditional direct negotiations with Syria and Iran, defending civil liberties inside the united states (which have been violated under the claim of preventing terror during the Bush administration) or his will to push democracy when dealing with the outside world, the last of which the Bush administration hasn’t done as it has overlooked human rights violations in some countries, specifically those countries that joined Bush’s War against Terror.

These reasons make us sympathetic towards this man and wish him to be the winner in this election, but the only point where we can’t agree on is his position on Israel. He can be different than Bush in all the things we’ve mentioned and more, but the interests of Israel always remain the only stable thing in American policy, regardless of political leanings. This is not just a deduction one makes after seeing Obama’s speeches before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which represents the Israeli lobby in the United States, but this position has been openly declared by two key players on Obama’s foreign policy team: Madeleine Albright, a former secretary of state, and Martin Indic, the diplomat and former American ambassador to Israel. When they made a tour of the Middle East to prepare a paper about Barack Obama’s Middle East policy, they met with a group of Arab intellectuals who had raised the topic of Israel, its occupation of Arab lands and its role in creating instability in the region. Ms. Albright and Mr. Indic replied to these questions by saying that everything can be reviewed except its stance on Israel, and consequently there is no need to ask for an impossible thing and have a hope for something that can’t be done.

The view of Madeline Albright and Martin Indic is accurate American point of view, but we know well that there is no everlasting opinion in politics, and anyone can win his argument if he has elements of power to reach his goal. And from this perspective, Obama is not condemned but it is our Arab world which has neglected the elements of power and decided to beg for its rights rather than to impose it or get it through force.