Thoughts on Obama's First Interview

Barack Obama has given his first interview since becoming President, to Hisham Melham of Al Arabiya TV. Upon reading the transcript, I found that it contained potentially revealing insights into his world view. Of course, this could merely be a case of politician playing to his audience, but if it is not....

"But I also believe that there are Israelis who recognize that it is important to achieve peace."

Isn't that insightful? I know, it's hard to believe, but there actually may be some Israelis who might want peace. How many times has Israel been to the negotiating table? How many times have they signed cease-fires, or peace accords? How many times have they shown restraint in the face of a constant barrage of missiles and suicide-bombers? How long has Israel been at peace with Egypt, after the Camp David peace accords were signed? In the face of all this evidence, President Obama is somehow able to phrase it like it is some new revelation that there are Israelis that think it is important to achieve peace. The fact that he didn't even use the word most is also telling. Although he didn't quantify it, the impression that this statement leaves is that there are some Israelis that want peace, but that, in reality, their aren't that many. They certainly couldn't be in the majority. The truth is actually the opposite. Sure, there is probably a fringe minority in Israel that doesn't want peace, but the vast majority of Israelis yearn for it. They yearn for it so badly that, in the face of cease-fire after cease-fire that is broken, in the face of treaty after treaty that is circumvented, still they come back to the negotiating table, attempting to make peace with their neighbors.

"My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But if you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that. And that I think is going to be an important task."

Here's a question - what has changed in the last 30 years? What events have transpired since the Carter administration that might have jeopardized the "respect and partnership" that used to exist between America and the Muslim world? I can certainly name a few. The Iranian Hostage Crisis. The bombing of the Marine Corps barracks in Lebanon. Two Intifadas. Saddam Hussein's overrunning of Iraq, and the subsequent Gulf War. Two bombings of the World Trade Center in New York (including 9/11). The USS Cole bombing. Nightclub bombings from Germany to Indonesia. Afghanistan. Iraq. If there has been a change in the past 30 years, that change has come, or at least has been initiated by, elements in the Muslim world. President Obama's remarks, while not being explicit, leave the impression that it is America that is somehow responsible for this change. If you go back more than 30 years, you would find that America's role in the region was far from idyllic. The ouster of the Iranian Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, in 1953 is certainly not a high point on the American resume. Let's face it, the United States has had a history of supporting authoritarian regimes in the region in order to protect its economic interests. This, if anything, has diminished in the past 30 years.

"Now, the Iranian people are a great people, and Persian civilization is a great civilization. Iran has acted in ways that's not conducive to peace and prosperity in the region: their threats against Israel; their pursuit of a nuclear weapon which could potentially set off an arms race in the region that would make everybody less safe; their support of terrorist organizations in the past – none of these things have been helpful."

It is hard to argue against most of what the President says here. He artfully praises the Iranian people and Persian civilization. He rightly identifies their threats against Israel and the dangers inherent in their nuclear program as not being conducive to peace. He then, however, mentions "their support of terrorist organizations in the past." (Emphasis mine.) Forgive me, but this doesn't pass the laugh test. Is Hezbollah not a terrorist organization, or does Iran no longer support it? I suppose, however, that I am just not properly parsing President Obama's words. The fact that Iran supported terrorist organizations in the past does not negate the possibility that they continue to support those same organizations in the present. The impression left by his words, once again, is different.

If these three statements truly reflect our new President's world view, we could be in for a long 4-8 years. Barack Obama is so many things that George W. Bush is not. He is both eloquent and charismatic. While President Bush's words grated against my ears, I love to listen to President Obama's soaring rhetoric. But this man who comes to the Presidency with a scant four years separating him from the Illinois Assembly may also be naive, and in the tangled web of Middle Eastern politics, that could prove to be a dangerous thing.