Arab Media on Obama:

“With the election of Obama, one can’t but wonder what great human development has led such a society to express this degree of civilization”

 

“A new birth for the American Dream.”

“It is truly a noble and great nation.”

“It makes no difference for us who resides in the White House.”

“Obama selects an Israeli to head his White House staff.”

“When Obama said that he would destroy those who tear the world apart he meant the extremist religious right both within the United States and overseas. He has defeated the extreme right within, now he will be harder on the extreme right overseas.”

“ WASHINGTON — An internal review by the American military has found that a local Afghan police chief and another district leader helped Taliban militants carry out an attack on July 13 in which nine United States soldiers were killed and a remote American outpost in eastern Afghanistan was nearly overrun.” NY Times, Nov 3, 2008.

The Black Tribe:

The moderate New Middle East, the polygamous and tribal, as well as the radical Old Middle East, have been busy trying to figure out Barack Obama. Last January, while he was battling with Hillary Clinton for the nomination, I was asked repeatedly in the moderate New Middle East, on the shores of the Persian-American Gulf, if he could really win. I was tempted to say that "yes, he can !". I responded to all that: if he beats Hillary he has a good chance of winning.

Then someone asked me: how can he win and blacks are a small minority in America? That was a tough one to answer, because the questioner was coming from the tribal angle and I had to think carefully before responding. In the moderate New Middle East, mostly tribal and polygamous, one‘s strength and identity come from his tribe. Clan, tribe, and sect, in that exact order, trump nation- in the moderate New Middle East.

The media in the moderate New Middle East and in some of the 'immoderate' Old Middle East as well, have reacted to the election of Obama. The oligarchs and potentates have some difficulty understanding how it happened, but a few of their editors are more ‘with it’ on this issue- up to a point. They do understand, however, that the American people have repudiated the Republican Party and its narrow intolerant conservatism.

Some of the editors, those with latent remnant liberal ideas from old school and Western college days buried deep behind loyal sycophantic fronts, can’t hide their excitement. They must feel young again, perhaps recall glimpses of old times when they were....different from what they have become. Some have remarked how the American people seem to have overcome their prejudices and elected someone of color.They have elected someone of a different tribe or sect, to use the distinctions seared into our Middle Eastern psyche since birth, perhaps since before birth, probably all the way back to the days of paganism.

It is interesting how we insulate this event from our own societies. It is ‘they’ who have finally seen the light, and it is an occasion for some degree of celebration. But what about ‘us’? They remarked how a member of a ‘minority’ group was elected president. They are assuming that because he looks different then he is different: from a different tribe, if you will. Interestingly, some 'analysts' in the United States also have analyzed the election outcome in similar tribal terms- as well as ideological and political terms.

Many have predictably remarked how ‘blacks’ represent less than 15% of the US population yet they now have a president. Which incidentally equals the percentage of Shia’s in, say, Saudi Arabia and the same percentage of Sunni Arabs in Iraq. Perhaps this will inspire the oligarchs to elevate a few of those from 'other' tribes, say Shi’as under whose territory most of the oil lies, to reasonably higher position. Not a president: that would be a ‘kingly’ duty. Not a cabinet minister: that would be too much. Not an undersecretary: that would be too much as well. Maybe not even an assistant undersecretary: it would be too much.

Actually the equivalent of the minority 'tribe' of Iraq, the Sunni Arabs, the 15%, ruled the country for all its life, until 2003. But they made a total mess of it. They screwed up big time.

Cheers

mhg