Heckuva job, Barry
President Obama’s first journey to Israel as president comes amid earth-shattering change in Middle East, much of it for the worse. The Arab Spring, which once raised hopes of freedom and dignity, has diverged onto the dark path of Islamist authoritarian rule. In Syria, tens of thousands of people have died in a bitter civil war that might have recently seen its first use of chemical weapons. And Iran continues its march toward nuclear weapons capability, heedless of international condemnation. Obama’s effort to seek peace between Palestinians and Israelis is in tatters.
That’s why the White House has been lowering expectations for Obama’s trip to Israel all this week. He will announce no new peace plan, grand design or major foreign policy initiative. His advisers are calling the trip a “listening tour.” That is what you call a state visit when you have little to say.
………….
Despite downgrading the trip, many see Obama’s arrival as the sequel to his 2009 visit to Cairo, where he announced a “new beginning” with the Muslim world. Four years later, that doesn’t auger well for renewed efforts in Israel and the West Bank. According to the latest survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, confidence in Obama in Muslim countries dropped from 33% to 24% in his first term. Approval of Obama’s policies declined even further, from 34% to 15%. And support for the United States in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan is lower today than it was in 2008 in the closing year of George W. Bush’s administration. That collapse of support has not happened elsewhere.
In his Cairo speech, Obama pledged a relationship between America and Muslims around the world “based on mutual interest and mutual respect.” But in 2013, interests are diverging, and respect is in short supply.
More here
As I recall, the “Arab street” held the US in the highest regard when the Republican Guard was being shredded, and the mulahs in Tehran stayed quiet as they felt the earth move from the B-52 strikes across the border.
There is a lesson here, I think.
@JustAl: l I believe it’s “Peace through Superior Fire Power”. But I could be wrong. With our current Muzzie in Chief, it’s ‘Peace through appeasment’. I will admit that Iraq wasn’t necessary and we’ve stayed way too long in Afghanastan, You can’t bring savages up to the 21st Century when you’re busy bringing the USA down to their level.
so says Richard Wheeler.
Ooooops.
@retire05: Don’t be cherrypicking—he mentions 4 countries then says the “collapse of support” has not happened elsewhere.
@Richard Wheeler:
See the other thread. Now, be a good boy and admit you were wrong.
@retire05: Spin it however you like–I’d read it to mean support had not collapsed in other Muslim countries like Libya, Tunisia,Kuwait,Turkey,United Arab Republic,Saudi Arabia etc. At any rate to say overall support is lower under Obama than Bush??? I’d say pretty bad overall under both.
@Richard Wheeler:
The best I can learn is that Obama’s approval is 12% in Turkey and I think four dead Americans in Libya speaks for itself. But being a true believer, I am sure you will see it differently.
@Richard Wheeler:
Reread the way he stated his facts. He specifically states that confidence in Obama and approval for his policies in Muslim countries dropped. He then added that in those other four countries, support for the U.S. was lower than it was near the end of Bush’s tenure. No matter how you spin it, confidence in Obama and approval of his policies in Muslim countries dropped to very low levels. “The collapse of support has not happened elsewhere” could very well be referring to non-Muslim countries to show a contrast in support for the U.S.. In any case, I personally could care less what a POTUS’s support or approval is in a Muslim country because he is not their president. What I do find ironic though is how a low approval in those countries was a big deal to you guys when Bush was in the WH but now it’s not. Remember “no likes us now” because the evil Bush invaded Iraq? News flash, they don’t like us now, never have, and probably never will.
@another vet: Bush’s approval in the Mideast was abysmal in 2008—hell his approval in the U.S was around 25% Props to him for disappearing.Wish Cheney had done the same.
Obama’s approval is down in countries mentioned.He’s well liked in Turkey(closer to 60% than Ret05 fabricated 12%). Large majority of Libyans happy with overthrow of Ghadaffi so his #’s there are good.
No question there is room for improvement.Would agree with you the importance of being liked in the ME is overrated.
Irony is, his continued unqualified support for Israel will always be unpopular with large majority of Muslims.
@Richard Wheeler: Like I said, I could care less what Bush’s or Obama’s approval rating is in those countries or any others for that matter. He’s supposed to be our president not theirs. Better feared or respected than liked and in the Muslim countries in particular, the only way you get respect is through fear. That’s just the way their culture is even amongst themselves. As for Bush’s approval rating here, as long as he did what was right, which doesn’t translate into being popular, that’s what counts. Truman’s approval rating was lower than Bush’s yet had he not checked Soviet expansion in Europe and on the Korean Peninsula when he did, the CW may have turned out differently. I realize lots of you who veer left believe the presidency should be a popularity contest, but I disagree. If and when we ever get someone who is serious about doing what is right concerning our debt, that individual will have to be making some extremely unpopular decisions because it will require huge cuts to handouts.
@Richard Wheeler:
I fabricated? I got the Turkish approval rate from Pew Global, the very same organization that provided the rest of the approval ratings. The fact that you didn’t bother to do your own research, and simply react from your gut, is not my fault, but yours.
Yeah, that’s why Ambassador Stevens is having so much success there. Oh, wait, he’s dead, along with three other Americans. Libya is a disaster. Another one of Obama’s “Arab Spring” successes, along with Egypt which is now seeing riots in the streets because Obama helped install the Muslim Brotherhood.
But like I said; you’re a true believer. You have drank the Obamaide and are now willing to be absolutely delusional about his success in the Middle East. There is no Obama success, Richard. The ME is a boiling disaster readying to roll over the edge of the pot. Iran continually thumbs its nose at Obama, and with no repercussions. Are you in California so brainwashed that you can’t see what is happening there?
I’m curious; what would it take for you to realize that Obama is an unmitigated disaster himself? 8% unemployment as normal? Check. Smallest American workforce in decades? Check. Rising inflation? Check. Out of control spending by this Administration? Check. $4.00 gas prices? Check. A deficit that is rapidly becoming 100% of our GDP? Check. And a ME that is going to turn into a third world war, not if but when? Check.
Obama promised to “fundamentally transform” this nation. That is the only campaign promise he has kept, and if you think he is any friend to Israel, you are blinded by partisan loyality. I gave you credit for being smarter than that. I guess that credit was misplaced.
@retire05@retire05: Who are you trying to B.S. You’ve never given me credit for anything and never apologized for the lies you put out re. my refi and mortgage payments.But that’s who you are. I’ve come to expect it and actually find your rantings amusing.
There are no statistics that show the overall approval of the U.S./Obama any worse now than in 2008 U.S./Bush.You know this–hell everybody knows this.It was terrible then and it’s not good now. Stevens killed by A.Q. faction. Majority of Libyans thankful for U.S/Ally support in overthrow of the Mad Colonel.
You don’t think Obama an ally of Israel just like every POTUS since Ike? You’re nuts–political suicide–Jewish vote for BHO over 70% twice. You suggest “Stockholm Syndrome” LAUGHABLE
@Richard Wheeler:
Oh, certainly not you, Richard. We all know that you, as an Obama supporter, are way to smart to fall for b/s.
You’re a liar. I didn’t bring up the issue of your refi, YOU DID, and I never mentioned one damn word about your “mortage payments” as I would have no way of knowing how much they are, although I am sure they are heafty on your $600K+ McMansion. You have said that you are 68 years old (while you slam others and pretend to hold age dicrimination views). Tell me, do you even expect to live long enough to pay that McMansion off?
Take that up with Pew Global who makes that claim. That is where I got it. But I am sure a smart cookie, like yourself, is much more informed about the attitude of the ME street than they are. Perhaps you could offer your services to them?
So what? Is it my fault if American Jews vote against their own interests? Hell, they voted for FDR, knowing the situation in Europe at the time. So what? Blacks continue to vote for Democrats who have done NOTHING to advance blacks in this country. You see, low information voters don’t realize that they are cutting their own throats by voting for the Demo-socialists we now have in office. So if you are claiming that because American Jews voted for Obama shows that Obama is a true friend to Israel, you are as clueless as American Jews.
Oh, it’s since Ike now? No, I don’t and obviously the Israeli street agrees with me, and not you. It doesn’t make a damn what American Jews think, any more than it makes a difference what American Greeks think. What matters is what the people in those nations think, and the populace of Israel, rightfully so, do not trust Obama.
@retire05: I repeat Show me any poll that shows overall support of U.S/Obama in M.E. worse than support of U.S/Bush in 08.
Like Another Vet I don’t see this as particularly important but YOU keep bringing it up.
You ride your high horse and claim Jews and Blacks are” low information voters” and suffer from Stockholm Syndrome—what a crock–but understandable from your bigoted view of the political landscape.
@Richard Wheeler:
Judas Priest, Richard. You have been given the information more than once. From the USToday article to the Pew Global findings. You simply dismiss them out of had and demand even more proof.
Is it important? You betcha. When radical Islam wants nothing more than to blow us to kingdom come, and drive all Israelis into the sea, only those in total denial about Obama’s pathetic ME policy can say that it is not important.
Because I state an obvious fact, that in your convoluted mind makes me a bigot? Seems you are the bigot, especially toward anyone you think is older than you.
@retire05: Obvious fact that Jews and Blacks are “low information voters” and suffer from “Stockholm Syndrome”. Is that what you are saying? Who other than a bigot would call these “obvious facts.”
You volunteered your age back in 2011.
@Richard Wheeler:
Perhaps you would like to explain why blacks continue to elect those who work against their interests, or those who are corrupt as hell, like Jesse Jackson, Jr., Charlie Rangel, John Conyers, and the idiots Sheila Jackson Lee and Maxine Waters all the while accepting racism from their own party directed to those like Allen West, Tim Scott, Mia Love and others? In the case of Sheila Jackson Lee, who keeps getting re-elected, her district is the poorest/most crime ridden of any district in coastal Texas. Educated voters would not tolerate that. Time after time, we read of the failing school systems in Democrat held enclaves, black children being cheated out of an education promised them, yet, blacks continue to vote for the very people that have destroyed their schools, their neighborhoods, their families and their opportunities. Perhaps you have a better explaination for it than “low information” voters.
As to the American Jewish voter, Norman Podhoretz wrote an article trying to explain why American Jews votes against their own interests. Look it up, if you want.
You progressives looooooove labels, don’t you? You have to put someone into some kind of neat little box or you have no argument. Of course, you resort to the catch phrases/words like “racist,” “bigot,” “homophobe,” “anglophile”, or what ever other label to claim higher ground. Perhaps it is because deep down in the true recesses of your conscience you know that there are no bigger bigots than progressives. Class/race warfare dies if you don’t promote it.
So what? Does that give you the right to express bigotry against anyone older than you, as you have done numerous times? Do you think there is some magical age where you cease to be a thinking, rational person? I find it laughable that you slam others, expressing your bigotry toward others older than you, when you have seen the last days of the autumn of your own life and are now entering the dead of winter.
@retire05:
I suppose you think things were so much better under Jim Crow. That wouldn’t shock me one iota if you did. Or maybe you think Jim Crow just ended itself. You can make whatever arguments you want for whom blacks – or anyone else for that matter – should be voting for today, but to pretend Democrats weren’t involved in passing the Civil Rights Act, or ending segregation, is just ridiculous. For the record, many Republicans supported that legislation too, and Southern Democrats were against it – it was clearly a regional vote – but I think we all know how the parties shook out in the 60s into what we now call red and blue states, and which party is identified with passing the legislation. Many blacks apparently have longer memories than you do yet you have the pompous audacity to insult them wholesale as a race. You truly are a silly old bigot.
Perhaps a picture is worth a thousand words… and in this case, the image from the overview of the report from Pew’s website. There is a specific graph on approval by country, (only 14 in their report, and it doesn’t include Israel or Libya), comparing Bush’s 2008 levels to Obama’s 2009 and 2012 levels.
Robbin’s USAToday story is only partially correct, as you can see. The nations with approval rates lower than Bush are Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan. In every other nation, including Turkey (12% for Bush ’08 compared to 15% for Obama ’12), the approval rate is higher than the last Bush year.
About the only “story” here is that Obama thought his initial spike of good will ratings in 2009 would stay high. But when you out’cowboy Bush, that isn’t going to be possible.
But for those of you who care what the world thinks of us, a far more indepth report was released this month by Gallup with their US-Global Leadership Project report. The link to that 24 pg PDF is here, which shows that Bush’s 2007 and 2008 approval ratings are lower than Obama’s current ratings in the countries discussed above, except Egypt, and Jordan who wasn’t rated during the Obama terms. Gallup has a higher approval rating from Egypt in ’12 than Bush’s ’07 or ’08. It should also come as no surprise that Obama is considerably less popular than Bush in both Honduras and Israel.
Polls are just polls – a snapshot in time of an “x” segment of people – but at least with the Gallup study, the list of countries explored and documented includes far more of the globe, and the stats dating back to 2007 starts on pg 15.
The reality is that the US was never high on the ME “love” list in 2007-08, and still isn’t. However the blanket statement that the US is less popular in all of the ME is not a correct evaluation. Nor did the Pew study include all of the nations, as the Gallup Leadership Project did.
Frankly, I consider this just another non story that is designed to cater to the ODS rhetoric. It’s not completely factual, and is really irrelevant in the scheme of things. The US has been “the ugly American” since the 50s. Like another vet, I certainly don’t feel the need for love and fluff.. most especially from Muslim nations. What I want is cooperation in intel, and them controlling the jihad movements in their midst. If they do that, I could care less if they spit every time they say “United States”.
@retire05: Dang old gal you’re five years older than me so if I’m entering “dead of winter” you must be frozen over.
You just convinced me to get out and take a run on the beach. Thanks