Matt Mainen: On Mideast, O must copy W
[Matt Mainen is an Institute for Gulf Affairs analyst.]
In his June 2009 Cairo speech on US-Islamic reconciliation, President Obama dedicated 1,020 words to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, only 375 to promoting democratic ideals. That reflected a U-turn from the priorities of President George W. Bush -- and Obama's subsequent policies showed the same single-minded belief that delivering a Palestinian state would be the panacea for America's troubles in the region.
Recent weeks have shown Bush's views were more in tune with the Arab masses than Obama's. Unless radically realigned, US policy could pulverize any hope for friendly US-Arab relations.
When Obama took office, America had spent the last eight years pushing democracy in the region. Bush pressured the Saudi monarchy into holding partial municipal elections in 2005. That same year, elections in Egypt yielded 114 members of parliament unaffiliated with President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party. In 2006, the United Arab Emirates held partial parliamentary elections, and in 2002 women won the right to vote in Bahrain.
Under Obama, Saudi Arabia's scheduled second election has been indefinitely postponed. The 2010 Egyptian elections saw an upswing in vote-rigging and dropped the number of elected non-NDP representatives to 84. Last year, Freedom House's definitive "Freedom in the World" report downgraded Bahrain from "partially free" to "not free."
The administration's public moves showed no support for freedom, either...
Read entire article at New York Post
In his June 2009 Cairo speech on US-Islamic reconciliation, President Obama dedicated 1,020 words to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, only 375 to promoting democratic ideals. That reflected a U-turn from the priorities of President George W. Bush -- and Obama's subsequent policies showed the same single-minded belief that delivering a Palestinian state would be the panacea for America's troubles in the region.
Recent weeks have shown Bush's views were more in tune with the Arab masses than Obama's. Unless radically realigned, US policy could pulverize any hope for friendly US-Arab relations.
When Obama took office, America had spent the last eight years pushing democracy in the region. Bush pressured the Saudi monarchy into holding partial municipal elections in 2005. That same year, elections in Egypt yielded 114 members of parliament unaffiliated with President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party. In 2006, the United Arab Emirates held partial parliamentary elections, and in 2002 women won the right to vote in Bahrain.
Under Obama, Saudi Arabia's scheduled second election has been indefinitely postponed. The 2010 Egyptian elections saw an upswing in vote-rigging and dropped the number of elected non-NDP representatives to 84. Last year, Freedom House's definitive "Freedom in the World" report downgraded Bahrain from "partially free" to "not free."
The administration's public moves showed no support for freedom, either...