July 10th, 2008 by Matt

A couple recent articles dispute the widely-held notion that the Arab/Muslim world is almost universally holding its collective breath with hopes for a victory by Barack Obama in November.  Writing in The New Republic, Josie Delap and Robert Lane Greene say that while it’s true that many foreigners are fascinated and enthusiastic about Obama’s potential, Arab opinion-makers and pundits are “almost unanimous in their skepticism of him”, reining in much of the excitement by frequently arguing that Obama is nothing more than a conventional American politician, especially with regard to Middle East policy.

In an electorally important part of the upper Midwest, meanwhile, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune last week carried an op-ed by Yousef Munayyer, who argued that some of Obama’s words and actions throughout the campaign have severely damaged his relationships with American Arabs and Muslims, perhaps irreparably.

Posted in Arab media, Election 08, Public Opinion, US foreign policy, US politics |