Posted on 06/11/2008 12:49:00 PM PDT by Enchante
This column will probably get Barack Obama in trouble, but that’s not my problem. I cannot tell a lie: Many Egyptians and other Arab Muslims really like him and hope that he wins the presidency.
I have had a chance to observe several U.S. elections from abroad, but it has been unusually revealing to be in Egypt as Barack Hussein Obama became the Democrats’ nominee for president of the United States.
While Obama, who was raised a Christian, is constantly assuring Americans that he is not a Muslim, Egyptians are amazed, excited and agog that America might elect a black man whose father’s family was of Muslim heritage. They don’t really understand Obama’s family tree, but what they do know is that if America — despite being attacked by Muslim militants on 9/11 — were to elect as its president some guy with the middle name “Hussein,” it would mark a sea change in America-Muslim world relations.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Dear Mr. Friedman,
Do you actually think this is news? OF COURSE everyone in the world who wants to see America weakened loves Obambi. He is the ideal candidate for every America-hater out there.
btw, the War on Terror did not “swallow up” America — only socialist weasels want to see this country further weakened by the scum of Islamo-fascism that you seem to be so friendly with.....
Yes, the biggest issue in this election is getting people in far-flung countries with vastly different national interests from our to LIKE us. Nothing else matters.
(sarcasm)
A Weird Sort of Racial Chauvinism [Victor Davis Hanson]
A common trope of many pundits is that when they travel overseas now, they begin to tingle when those abroad, especially in the so-called former Third World, press them on Obama’s chances. Then the now banal theme follows: the Middle Easterner, African, South American, etc. tells the American pundit that he can't believe an America would pick a (fill in the blank) — former Muslim, person of color, man with Hussein as a middle name, etc. — and that suddenly this liberality has restored his faith in the United States.
Then the pundit, straining to be fair, usually says he doesn't know whether Obama could change things as much as his foreign admirers imagine, but at least this is an exciting time (finally) to once again be American. Indeed, the argument that an Obama presidency would appeal to our critics overseas and prove our liberality is becoming a powerful reason to vote for Obama for many of our elites.
Aside from the obvious point that we should not pick our presidents on the basis of whether those in mostly autocratic, non-democratic societies approve, there is something very tribal and racialist about all this chauvinism.
If a white male Christian of European ancestry were suddenly a likely successor to the Mubarak dictatorship, or were next in line to take over the Mugabe kleptocracy, or were stealing Venezuela from Hugo Chavez, or were going to be elected the next leader of South Africa, it would be of less than zero importance to me, and I would hope to other Americans of similar backgrounds. And I think most of us would shudder should an Englishman or Australian say “I just hope your next President is another white male Christian like McCain.” I was in Greece in 1988 when the socialist liberal Greeks went ga-ga over Mike Dukakis solely on the basis on his shared ethnic background and it seemed pretty absurd, especially when many promised they would change their dark view of Reagan's America if a Greek-American were elected President.
So, one, I don't see what is so great when a foreigner tells an American journalist that his view of America might change should we elect a person closer to his own perceived racial or religious self-image. Seems instead illiberal, tribal, and retrograde. And two, if Egyptians, Iranians, Congolese, or Bolivians want real changes in their own lives, then they should look to their own autocratic systems, not the United States that can do little to alleviate their mostly self-inflicted miseries other than to continue to shell out hundreds of billions in petrodollars and ever more humanitarian aid.
06/11 01:43 PM
OMG!! Now I am shocked! The NYT actually printed his full name.
My Moroccan friend was back home last month and came back to report that most people she knew over there supported Hillary. They didn’t seem to like Obama at all.
Don't read too much into that.
Caption above the pictures of Obama and Hillary reads, “‘Hillary’ and ‘Obama’ – A Woman and a Negro are Participating in the Campaign for the American Presidency”
The religious man in the foreground is saying: "This is another sign of the collapse of the Western civilization"
Friedman always does that—writes about something as though it’s been revealed to him by a higher power that everyone else has known for ages. Master of the Obvious.
We are reaping the rewards and punishment for succumbing to our sense of romanticism...born from centuries of great heroes of literature; Lawrence of Arabia, Othello, combined with 80 years of silver screen heroes, Jimmy Stewart,Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Denzel Washington, Clint Eastwood.
We expected President Bush to be Gary Cooper and he isn’t. Some people wanted Hillary to be Doris Day and unfortunately she is married to Mickey Rooney. Now, some movie morons are projecting all their aspirations for a present day Martin Luther King on a young man who shares only one thing with that icon - the color of his skin.
He has no hereditary connection, no religious affiliation, no hard trials - only the benefits of those whose real-life struggle he has never known. He is, in a word, Hollow Wood.
I suspect that the Egyptian man on the street understands Obama better than Friedman does.
Thomas Friedman is so yesterday!
Wait till all the young voters find out the latest scoop on Obama! He STILL SMOKES CIGARETTES!! Oh, the horror!
Great post, great analysis!
Personally, I think Obama is more like Jerry Lewis than MLK. He walks around with a goofy expression on his face; he stutters and stammers when not delivering a prepared speech; he is pussy-whipped by the formidable Michelle.
Not romantic at all, unless you’ve been smoking some weed or snorting some crack.
So, BHO is simply another lousy sequel?
So, BHO is simply another lousy sequel?
Friedman is always years behind the curve, but is too pompous and arrogant to realize it.
No he was not raised a Christian.
Good point, is there the slightest evidence that Obama ever was Christian before he joined Rev. Wright’s moonbat “church”??
Is there really even the slightest evidence that Obama is a Christian now?
I do not support any religious test for office but I DO support an “honesty test” and if Obama has been as comprehensively dishonest about his beliefs and background as it appears then he is obviously unfit for the Presidency.
Well he is unfit for many other reasons, but his chronic dishonesty adds to the list!!
Same here. This guy is a serial liar. If confronted on it (which doesn't happen often), he blames the questioner.
Everybody has to get out those big flip-flops they used during the Kerry candidacy. Obama doesn’t know whether he’s coming or going. He has to wait for Axelrod, Ayers, Wright, Pleger, and Michelle to tell him.
Never have I seen a more incompetent candidate for US Prez. And I have been voting for over 50 years.
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