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I was a bit relieved when Barrack Hussein Obama II and Hillary Rodham Clinton were the front-runners for the Democratic Party candidacy for the US Presidential Election. It was the spring of 2008. Somehow I know history is going to be made. After George W. Bush two term performances as the US President, I had a very strong feeling that the next US President will be a Democrat.
The history I was referring to is the United States of America will either have the first ever female President or the first ever African American President. I was hoping for the latter not because I am a misogynist sexist but Obama is a man with a Muslim-African father and has spent most of his childhood in Indonesia. That sounds like a foreign policy heaven; a dream-come-true for the Asians and Muslims. America will finally have a President who can empathize with our Asian culture and understand the philosophy behind Islam.
Consequently, on June 3, 2008 when Hillary Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama, I was a hundred percent convinced Obama was going to be the 44th President of the United States, the first black resident of the White House and the most powerful leader in the world. Senator John Mc Cain from the Republican was no match for the African American Senator from Illinois. Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009 with Joe Biden as his Vice President. Interestingly enough he appointed Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State.
Barack Hussein in Arabic means “the blessing of Hussein”. In Persian, Obama translates as “He is with us”.
American Islamists were delighted; an umbrella group, the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Election, mentioned that, with Obama's election, “Our nation has… risen to new majestic heights”. Other US Muslim groups by the likes of Siraj Wahhaj, Al-Hajj Talib Abdur Rashid, The Council on American Islamic Relations, The Muslim Public Affairs Council, The Islamic Society of North America, The Islamic Circle of North America and The Muslim Alliance in North America responded with similar exuberance.
Hamas as well as Islamist movements in Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, India, Indonesia and the Philippines were also elated in Obama's election. Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch generalizes that jihadists and Islamic supremacists worldwide showed “unalloyed joy”. The New York Times finds public reaction in the Middle East mostly “euphoric”. John Esposito of Georgetown University emphasizes the Muslim world’s welcome to Obama as an “internationalist president.”
In his first few days in office Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the US military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. That never happened. Then he ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as soon as “practicable and no later than” January 2010. That too never happened.
He then announced an increase to U.S. troop levels of 17,000 in February 2009 to “stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan”, an area which he said had not received the “strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires”. He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, General David D McKiernan, with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A McChrystal in May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war. On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan.
As a result from the above foreign policy moves, some commentators argue that Obama cannot make a real difference; an Iranian newspaper declares him unable to alter a system “established by capitalists, Zionists, and racists”. Predictably, the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Obama's chief of staff confirmed Palestinian perceptions of an omnipotent Israel lobby. A commentator in the United Arab Emirates went further, predicting Obama's repetition of Jimmy Carter's trajectory of flamboyant emergence, failure in the Middle East, and electoral defeat.
To make things worse he was awarded the coveted Nobel Peace Prize in December 10, 2009 – that’s nine days after his deployment of troops to Afghanistan announcement. That received mostly negative reactions as many believe that he doesn’t deserve the award. Obama himself was recorded as saying that he thinks he doesn’t deserve the recognition.
“Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations. To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize,” he said at the White House.
Whatever it is, he still has until 2012 to prove his words. In all, these mixed reactions from Muslims suggest puzzlement at the prospect of a US president of Islamic origins who promises “change”, yet whose foreign policy may buckle under the constraints of his office. After all, the US Presidency is not just about one individual. That, I guess will be Barrack Hussein Obama’s biggest challenge. Related News
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