Egyptian View of Obama and U.S. Low As The Streets Fill

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Egyptian View of Obama and U.S. Low As The Streets Fill


Michael Scherer Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 2:09 pm


About two years ago, President Obama tried to reset U.S. relations with the Muslim world. In a speech in Cairo, he offered a direct criticism of U.S. allies in the Middle East that regularly repress human rights, including Egypt. "Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away," Obama announced. "America respects the right of all peaceful and law-abiding voices to be heard around the world, even if we disagree with them. And we will welcome all elected, peaceful governments -- provided they govern with respect for all their people. This last point is important because there are some who advocate for democracy only when they're out of power; once in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others."

The audience applauded this line. But as events now unfold on the streets of Egypt, Obama is largely a spectator of the events in Egypt, his call for democracy muddied by his recent support of the Mubarak regime and the U.S. governments muted disapproval of the Egyptian government over the last two years as the country's political conditions have deteriorated. The great reset that Obama seemed to be aspiring to in 2009 never really took hold, especially in Egypt.

According to the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, Obama has suffered a significant fall in Egyptian public opinion since his Cairo speech. Whereas 38 percent of Egyptian adults approved of Obama's International policies in 2009, only 17 percent approved a year later. (The 2009 poll was conducted between May 24 and June 11, 2009; Obama spoke in Cairo on June 4, 2009.) When asked if the U.S. will do the right thing in world affairs, 42 percent of Egyptians responded positively in 2009, while only 33 percent responded positively in 2010.

Notably, U.S. favorability in Egypt was lower in 2010 than in 2007 and 2008, the last two year of George W. Bush's presidency. Whereas, 22 percent of Egyptian adults had a favorable view of the U.S. in 2008, and 27 percent had a favorable view in 2009, only 17 percent had a favorable view in 2010. This coincided with deep drops in the national mood in Egypt. Only 10 percent of Egyptians called the current economic situation good in 2010, compared with 44 percent in 2008. Sixty-nine percent expressed dissatisfaction with the direction of the country in 2010, compared with 57 percent in 2008.

After widespread fraud was reported in the Egyptian parliamentary elections in November of 2010, along with clear examples of voter intimidation (including limits of SMS use), the U.S. State Department released a room temperature statement of disapproval, along with the typically discordant claim that "The United States has a longstanding partnership with the government. . . . We look forward to continuing to work with the Egyptian government and with Egypt's vibrant civil society to help them achieve their political, social, and economic aspirations."

Al Jazeera English is reporting that protesters in Alexandria are holding up signs written in English, obviously intended to send a message to the international community. One sign was reported to read, "Foreign governments stop your hypocrisy."

When George W. Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, there was widespread talk about how the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the hoped-for birth of democracy would provide an inspiration to an Arab world largely stultified by authoritarian dictatorship. The great wave of reform, of course, never materialized. Until now. But there is, of course, precious little evidence that Iraq's extremely nascent and fragile democracy has inspired what's happening in Egypt. If so, however, it would represent another way in which that invasion has backfired in unexpected ways. The autocrats that the Bushies hoped to topple were figures like Syria's Bashar al-Assad and the theological rulers of Iran. Instead the masses have now come for one of America's principal allies in the region.

It is, of course, possible that this popular movement isn't finished. Al Jazeera reports that, while Damascus has been calm, there are signs of anxiety on the part of Assad's regime:

On Friday evening, as protests in Cairo reached a crescendo, the streets of Damascus were unusually quiet, with many people staying at home to watch the news. Syria's state-run media quoted some news reports from Cairo, but offered no comment or analysis on the situation.

By Saturday morning life had returned to normal with few signs, on the surface at least, that the authorities were concerned about potential unrest....

Online, however, it was a different story. Internet users reported a significant slowdown in the web, with searches for news on Egypt often crashing browsers.

Heavy user traffic could be an explanation but in Syria, where thousands of websites deemed opposed to state interests are blocked and where Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media are banned, authorities denied accusations they had restricted the service to prevent citizens hearing about events in Cairo.

Earlier this week, though, authorities banned programmes that allow access to Facebook Chat from mobile phones, a cheap and easy means of staying in touch that had exploded in popularity among young Syrians.

Meanwhile, the New York Times, reporting on Arab executive opinion from Davos, throws some cold water on the idea that Saudi Arabia could be next:

Few of them expected a revolution to spread across the oil-rich nations of the Persian Gulf and the United Arab Emirates, where the governments are monarchies, which often do not create the types of expectations that accompany a democracy. Rulers in these countries use their oil wealth to invest in social stability by ensuring their own people lead comfortable lives through subsidies on things like electricity, education and food.

“Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries are going to be spared because they are not democratic regimes,” said Jamal Khashoggi, the general manager of Al Waleed 24 News Channel. People there “don't feel cheated because there are no elections,” he said. By contrast, he said, “I can feel the agony of an Egyptian when he sees how democracy is mocked.”

Sounds plausible, and yet who could have predicted a week ago that Hosni Mubarak would be on the brink of ouster?



Read more: After Egypt, Cont’d - Swampland - TIME.com