Obama’s Egyptian report card: His first 100 days and the Cairo speech

Abstract

American President Barack Obama promised to turn the page in US relations with the Middle East and Muslim world, calling for “a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.” During his first 100 days in office he made good on that promise with a number of initiatives in which he reached out to Arabs and Muslims across the globe. Obama granted his first interview to the Arabic-language news channel Al Arabiya, to which he explained that his Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell had been instructed to listen, “because all too often the United States starts by dictating.” He later offered a New Year’s greeting of hope and peace in a video message to the Iranian people and their government, and in Ankara told the Muslim world that “the United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam.” And although slightly behind schedule, he finally delivered a much-touted speech in Egypt in which he highlighted America and the Muslim world’s shared interests, again seeking “a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world.” Given the challenges posed by the global financial crisis and the historical significance of his being the nation’s first African-American president, it is no surprise that much was made in the US of Obama’s first 100 days in office. Western media outlets such as CNN devoted special segments to analysis of the president’s first few months at work, while commentators and editorial pages picked apart his opening policies. Politicians, scholars, and pundits on Salon.com and in Foreign Policy magazine even issued report cards for Obama, grading his handling of a host of issues both foreign and domestic. He passed with flying colors. And when his Middle East outreach initiatives are viewed alongside his reversals of US policies on Iraq, offshore prisons, and torture, it is not surprising either that the Arab and Muslim worlds have also watched President Obama closely since he assumed office in late January. So how did Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East, on the receiving end of so much of US foreign policy, grade Obama’s first 100 days in office and his historic Cairo speech? In their view, did he pass or fail?