The world is watching Obama, and waiting…
….for him to say something about the outbreak of violence in the Middle East.
Some say Israelis acted now because of the ticking clock on the friendly Bush administration.
And, upon his inauguration on Jan. 20, will President Obama undercut Israel’s counterterror offensive before its goals have been reached?
However, Arabs were counting on the opposite. After all…
Obama has said it is one of his priorities to restore America’s image among Muslims.
But now his silence is very loud.
“People recall his campaign slogan of change and hoped that it would apply to the Palestinian situation,” said Jordanian analyst Labib Kamhawi, speaking from Amman, Jordan. “So they look at his silence as a negative sign. They think he is condoning what happened in Gaza because he’s not expressing any opinion.”
“If he does not want to talk politics yet, at least he could address the humanitarian suffering taking place,” Kamhawi added. “He did not even send one signal to the people of this region that he is not happy with what is happening.”
It is not only the Arab world that has noticed the president-elect’s silence: At a gathering of celebrities to condemn Israel’s assault in London on Friday, speakers called on Obama to speak out.
Such calls underscore the challenge confronting a president-elect who has promised to deliver change and who may now face unrealistically high expectations as to how far that change will go.
2 Comments
Um, Sheila….he isn’t PRESIDENT yet. If he were taking action, the pundits, as I suspect you, would be criticizing him for acting out of turn. I don’t understand why you’re so upset about this vacation (you mentioned it in almost every blog post this week!). You complain that the pundits are rating his leadership skills on things that he hasn’t actually done yet. I’d say the same to you: if you want to criticize Obama, criticize him for something he actually does instead of what isn’t his job to do in the first place.
This isn’t criticism….yet. But watch this space after inauguration. His actions concerning human rights will be held to fair and rational scrutiny.