A large segment of popular opinion, across the Middle East, appears to be
supporting Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Barak Obama in Tuesday's
contest against Republican John McCain. But, as Edward Yeranian reports from
Cairo, portions of the political elite in the Gulf, as well as many Christians
in Lebanon and Egypt appear to favor the latter.
Elections in the
United States are a major topic of interest for Arab audiences. Popular
satellite TV networks Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya are devoting large portions of
their coverage to the subject. Political commentators on both networks say that
Arab public opinion, across much of the Middle East, is widely in favor of
Democratic candidate Barak Obama.
The Arab daily Asharqalawsat is
running a caricature, in Monday's edition, of Obama and McCain wielding clubs
and preparing to beat up an Arab man, who is supposed to represent the Middle
East, in a subtle indication that the paper thinks neither candidate will be
good for Arabs.
The Syrian government, which has made no secret it would
prefer to see Barak Obama as the next American president, continues to blast
John McCain in the official government media. The Syrian daily Techrine
went to so far as to accuse the Bush Administration of mounting an alleged
raid against the Syrian border town of Sukkariya to "help get McCain
elected."
Meanwhile, a number of Gulf leaders are reported to prefer
Republican candidate John McCain, because they think he will better for their
business interests, in addition to continuing the Bush Administration's policy
of isolating Iran, which is perceived as a threat by various Gulf
States.
Professor Paul Salem, who heads Carnegie Center for Middle East
Peace in Beirut, says that Obama is the favorite of popular opinion, but not of
all Arab leaders:
"I am in Kuwait, now, for a couple of days, talking to
people from the Gulf region and also following the Arab press, both television
and print, and certainly the vast majority of the media and sort of the general
public you talk to definitely liked Obama and favored him, whereas some sort of
the elite and decision-makers in the Gulf countries, in particular, some of the
government people liked McCain because he is tough on Iran, Syria and strong on
Iraq - things that they care about," he said. "So, I would say public opinion is
very much with Obama and some of the elite opinion might be with
McCain."
In Lebanon, many Christians say that they favor McCain over
Obama, because McCain will better represent their interests. Dany Beyrouthi, who
supports the Christian Lebanese Forces Party, says that McCain represents the
part of America that he admires most:
"John McCain, I think, is a good
president because he is Christian and I am Christian, too. I like about McCain
his fight in Vietnam and I fight here in Lebanon with the Lebanese Forces. I
think that any man who fights for freedom in his country, I think he knows very
well what he wants," he said.
Dr. Hassan Nafae, who is professor of
political science at Cairo University and heads the Amman-based Arab Thought
Forum, says that Obama is the clear favorite of the Arab public, and that he,
too, hopes Obama will win:
"I think there is no question at all that most
Arab people in all the region support Barak Obama, but they do not think he will
be able to change radically the American foreign policy, but at least he will
not commit again the same mistakes that have been done by Bush. America now
needs the world much more than ever," said Nafae.
Nafae argues that many
Islamic extremists in the Middle East are hoping that John McCain will win,
because they think he will continue many of the same policies that President
Bush has followed in the Middle East, which have made the United States
unpopular. He says they are rooting for America's demise and that they think
that McCain will take America to its final downfall.