Obama’s Approval Rating in the Arab World at 45%

This is a pretty interesting blog post in TIME.

Although I don’t think the more favorable rating has much to do with Obama’s Muslim background but rather the fact that the Arab world perceives Obama to be a million times better than Bush in terms of his foreign policy. (of course, this is all comparative, I don’t think Obama’s foreign policy decisions have differed tremendously from President Bush’s- we are waging less war in Iraq and more in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and our policy towards Israel remains the same with the exception of harsher rhetoric criticizing Israeli settlement expansion).

But I thought that this was the most interesting part of the poll results and can serve as a statement to those who believe that every Middle Easterner is an avid supporter of Hamas, Iran, and Hezbollah:

After surging, respectively, to ratings of 27% and 17% in the 2008 poll, Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian Preisdent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fell to 11% and 10%–behind even current French President Nicolas Sarkozy. And no leader of Hamas figured in the top 12.

Moral of the story: If President Obama wants to reach out to the Muslim world, just as Scott Mcleod put it, he must take actions that prove to the residents of the Middle East that the U.S. is ready to pursue a more fair and just policy in the region. As made clear by the poll, Middle Easterners are not looking for meaningless rhetoric and promises of change, but concrete actions.

~ by nollla on June 2, 2009.