Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Magical Barack
Barack Obama has won some more primaries, and given another compelling, audacious victory speech. He is the most optimistic and upbeat liberal in my political memory, offering hope instead of Jimmy Carter's malaise mongering. But can Barack Obama change the way the world sees America?
Some people think so. Andrew Sullivan quotes approvingly from an email report from Yemen which argues that the election of Barack Obama will transform America's image abroad:
My wife and I are serving overseas in Yemen and I wanted to share a quick anecdote with you about Obama-buzz here in Sanaa. While getting my haircut several weeks ago, I was surprised when my barber Mohammed drifted from his usual aspersions about George Bush to suddenly inquire about Barack Obama. My Arabic is fairly limited, so it took me some time to understand that Mohammed and the other Yemeni patrons had seen Obama during an appearance with Oprah on Al-Jazeera. All of them agreed that of the people seeking to become President, Obama offered the only redemptive option for America.
After my haircut was nearing an end - a nearly 60 minute process - Mohammed said that "if a black man can become President, then maybe the story of America isn't a lie after all."
A few weeks later I was surprised at the end of a meeting with Yemeni government officials, when my hosts broke out into spontaneous praise for Obama and simultaneous incredulity that a man of color could win the American presidency. These two stories are just blips on the Yemeni consciousness, but it's worth noting that the advent of satellite television enables even the poorest families in the Middle East's poorest country to follow the US election. Those two stories stand out as the most dramatic to me, but they're not the only ones. Obama's mere candidacy has restored a fraction of the prestige and credibility we've lost - at least in Sanaa.
Sullivan himself writes this:
If you wanted the crudest but most effective weapon against the demonization of America that fuels Islamist ideology, Obama’s face gets close. It proves them wrong about what America is in ways no words can.
Obama's face? Seriously? This strikes me as a rather extreme case of projection. Yes, we Americans obsess about the differences between the descendents of Africans and Europeans, but other people in the world do not. The Arabs and south Asians who form the core of al Qaeda do not evidence any particular affinity for Africans, or consider them racial allies in some broader struggle with the Caucasian world. After all, their's is not a struggle for racial justice, it is a sectarian war to destroy "apostate" Islamic governments and the "Crusader" regimes that putatively sustain them in power.
In fact, the criticisms of American culture that dominate jihadi ideology have essentially nothing to do with race. They object first to our policies -- our support of the Islamic apostate regimes and Israel -- and secondarily to our "decadence," including our secularism, casual and flexible sexuality, and belief in popular rather than divine sovereignty. Barack Obama stands for both public policies and social influences that are anathema to Islamist ideology.
Yes, Barack Obama is undoubtedly a breath of fresh air to people around the world as he is to many Americans, and his election would certainly make it more difficult for transnational aggressives to tag the United States with racism, imperialism, and militarism, three of the four great sins according to the global left (the last being capitalism). This is very different, though, from supposing that people who are already waging war against the United States, or who have embraced a highly developed ideology that stands opposed to the United States, would beat their swords into plowshares if only we elected the child of an African to the Presidency.
It is no more reasonable to believe that Barack Obama's "face" will defuse Islamist ideology than it would have been to assume that a Russian-American president would have moved the Russians to abandon Communist ideology during the Cold War. Yes, it might have made for some good public relations between the two countries, but it would not have caused millions of Communists to abandon their beliefs because suddenly they could identify with the American president. Only failure and defeat could discredit the enemy ideology during the Cold War, and only the failure and defeat of Islamism will discredit that ideology today.
19 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Feb 12, 11:14:00 PM:
Obama would make things WORSE. It would raise expectations in the Muslim world for the US to come to Sharia. NOTHING less than total embrace of Sharia will defuse Muslim-American conflict.
And that is not going to happen. Better Hillary or McCain, a "keep the lid on" approach by subtly allying with locals to whack troublemakers ala Pablo Escobar in Columbia.
By 
jj mollo, at
Wed Feb 13, 12:03:00 AM:
People who live in a culture of chronic failure cannot help but resent those who routinely succeed. A magical negro father-figure is not going to save us from their anger. The only thing that will save us is a cold assessment of reality and necessity. We must be willing to make allowances for the emotional as well as the physical issues involved in third world failure. We must be willing to help to the extent that we can. An accurate worldview will help in that regard. But we can never cede over our sovereignty nor relax our vigilance.
By , at
Wed Feb 13, 12:38:00 AM:
It would seem that you are pooh-poohing the impact of an African American, with an international focus and background, on the perception of the world abroad; after all, it's just cheap symbolism. Weren't you touting the extraordinary meaning behind the Iraqis agreeing on a flag a short while ago? So symbols on cloth in a fractured, comparatively small country = extraordinarily important, personal background of the prospective leader of the free world not so much?
Qua?
By , at
Wed Feb 13, 02:37:00 AM:
if a black man can become President, then maybe the story of America isn't a lie after all.
I found that comment interesting. I gather that the 'lie' is something about how 'liberty, justice, for all' is a bunch of hot air. Obama being elected would be an indisputable refutation of that lie.
I tend to think that much of the prestige and credibility that the US has 'lost' is due in large part to misperceptions formed from a distorted view of reality. The distortion comes from lots of sources including the MSM, disinformation from Al-Qaeda, crazy rumors, and so on.
If Obama as president or candidate causes people to re-evaluate their sources of information about the US, I'm not going to complain.
By Gary Rosen, at
Wed Feb 13, 02:38:00 AM:
Yes, the world will love an America led by Obama. They love Jews, too, when they are meek Holocaust victims being led passively to slaughter. But not so much when they actually try to defend themselves.
By TigerHawk, at
Wed Feb 13, 06:47:00 AM:
Tory,
I actually do think that Obama would have a honeymoon during which he would be able to increase America's "soft power" in many contexts. He would have built in credibility with all sorts of people around the world that George W. Bush does not have. But -- and this goes to the subject of Andrew Sullivan's post -- I think that the fact of his status as the descendant of Africans would have absolutely no impact on Islamists, because it does not address their grievances against the West. For us to think it would is, as I said, projection. We think that the election of Obama would say something great about America. And it would, and lots of people around the world would celebrate that. My point is that none of those people would be Islamists, and that almost none of them would be Arabs or Muslims with any inclination at all to support Islamists (allowing, perhaps, for exceptions in Africa, which I know nothing about).
By , at
Wed Feb 13, 07:05:00 AM:
What about the fact that in their eyes Obama is an apostate Muslim? I'd like to know what the al J. audio is saying about that.
JLW III
By , at
Wed Feb 13, 07:17:00 AM:
Tory ... please. So Bush, not the 'first black president', or even the second, has had the first two black Secs of State, and that's not enough. Why would Barack change things? The Hussein or Muslim-angle? He's prettier than Hill, and better spoken. He's hopeful, ok. But they're all salesmen and liars, and he has virtually no experience. That concerns me as much as McCain's military experience, summarized as sitting as a POW for six years. IMO both are very weak candidates.
By davod, at
Wed Feb 13, 08:40:00 AM:
"He would have built in credibility with all sorts of people around the world"
WTF does this mean? Credibility with the "relative" in Kenya he supported during the recent electons. You know, the guy whose followers burnt down a church with the parishoners inside.
By Charlottesvillain, at
Wed Feb 13, 08:41:00 AM:
I read somewhere recently, maybe it was Rachel Lucas, that at least one advantage of Obama winning the presidency is that it would shut up the European left, who consider us all unredeemable racists. Its certainly not a reason to elect a president, and might not even be true, but was an interesting observation.
Meanwhile, the Virginia primary was yesterday. I chose to vote in the Democratic primary and voted for... Obama.
On my way to the polls, I had to admit to myself that the only reason I was motivated to vote at all was to do whatever I could to Stop Hillary. In my heart of hearts, I cannot face the possibility that the first black lady will be Bill Clinton. We'll cross the next bridge when we come to it.
By Dan Kauffman, at
Wed Feb 13, 09:54:00 AM:
"I read somewhere recently, maybe it was Rachel Lucas, that at least one advantage of Obama winning the presidency is that it would shut up the European left, who consider us all unredeemable racists"
If you believe that I have a good deal on a bridge for you
By Catchy Pseudonym, at
Wed Feb 13, 09:56:00 AM:
What's interesting is that I read that and didn't really consider or care what the extremists thought. I was assuming he was talking about the average guy/gal. Those are the people who are going to be influenced by his presidency, not some hardlined muslim facist.
Also Obama is not Muslim. You can stop with that urban legend right now, along with the one where he supposedly refused to put his hand on the Bible during his swearing in. Those kinds of whispers may stay in the right wing circles, but Americans at large know that those are lies. (I now expect to see this paragraph excerpted with quotes about him attending a madrasa). Between ages 6 and 8, Obama attended a local Muslim school in Jakarta; after that, he was enrolled in a Roman Catholic school. Oh no! Does that means he's Catholic?!
After a history of only white men leading America, having an African American as president does add legitimacy to the American dream. How can it not? But I don't put much stock in that affecting world politics. It's a great side note, but I like Obama because he's smart. Will make good decisions, is on the side of issues that I'm on, and campaigns on hope not fear.
By Catchy Pseudonym, at
Wed Feb 13, 10:21:00 AM:
By the way, the Obama muslim urban legend part was for Anonymous, at Wed Feb 13, 07:05:00 AM. I know that was mentioned in the original post.
By , at
Wed Feb 13, 03:22:00 PM:
"I read somewhere recently, maybe it was Rachel Lucas, that at least one advantage of Obama winning the presidency is that it would shut up the European left, who consider us all unredeemable racists"
The best reply to that is to consider how assimilation and opportunity has gone with regard to Europe and the US.
Colin Powell and Condi Rice: Secretaries of State.
Bobby Jindal( spelling?) governer of Louisiana.
Around 40 African Americans in Congress.
Compare that to Europe, and you see how absurd it is for the European left to consider us "unredeemable racists."
THE EUROSNEERS WILL FIND ANYTHING THEY CAN FIND TO CRITICIZE THE US.
By , at
Wed Feb 13, 03:51:00 PM:
"campaigns on hope not fear."
'Hope for recovery' rather than 'fear of recession?' 'Hope for peace' rather than 'fear of conflict.'
Spin. An anagram, even. (same material, different message)
"By the way, the Obama muslim urban legend part was for Anonymous..."
Anonymous actually knows what he's talking about here, and *I've* addressed this point before.
According to Islamic law, all children of a male Muslim (like Obama's father, for instance) are born Muslim themselves. Seeing as how Mr. Obama now claims a black Christian Chicago church, that would make him a Muslim apostate.
By , at
Thu Feb 14, 01:36:00 AM:
That makes sense TH, thanks for the clarification. I know only a little about the situations the US will face in Africa, mostly through friends that focus heavily on African development, and I speculate that Obama might have traction there that could prove useful. Violence, abuses of power, and suppression of dissenters seem bad enough in their own right, and such circumstances tend to breed radicalism, lawlessness and more violence that the US might have an interest in suppressing. (What do Afghani farmers who absolutely need to make cash grow, and where does that go?) Perhaps Obama's background might make arbitration or negotiation with that sector of the world more fruitful, but we'd need more information, time and analysis to be in any way sure of such conjecture.
By , at
Thu Feb 14, 07:01:00 AM:
Dear Catchy Pseudonym,
I was not thinking of the rumors that Obama is a closet Muslim, but of the fact that both his biological father and his stepfather were Muslims. Therefore according to the tenents of Islam he also must be a Muslim. Since he is a practicing Christian, with a kind of whacko spiritual advisor but that's another story, in Muslim eyes he is apostate and may be killed with impunity by any good Muslim.
JLW III
By Catchy Pseudonym, at
Thu Feb 14, 10:06:00 AM:
JLWIII,
Okay, I understand now what you are saying. I don't know how him being a apostate Muslim will play in the Muslim world, but don't they feel it's okay to kill Christians with impunity too?
To honest though, I don't really care what the rest of the world thinks. My support or Obama doesn't come from how I think the rest of the world will react.
When I talk about him with fellow supports that's never been a part of the discussion. I think it's an interesting conversation, but in the end I'd have to say that its not a valid reason to support or reject a presidential candidate.
Should he become president, I believe it will be business as usual in world affairs fairly quickly after he takes office.
By randian, at
Sun Feb 17, 12:50:00 AM:
Obama doesn't do anything to make Muslims, especially Arab-identified Muslims like Yemenis, like us.
1) He's an apostate leading a recalcitrant infidel power
2) He's black. Arabs are intensely racist towards blacks and are killing them by the tens of thousands throughout Africa.
