How Muslim world feels about Obama: disappointed
| Washington
Barack Obama continues to be popular and to lift America鈥檚 image in much of the world, with the notable exception of Muslim countries 鈥� where the president is less favorably viewed than he was a year ago.
That is a key finding of the Pew Global Attitudes survey, an annual snapshot of world opinion that has chronicled the fall and rise of America鈥檚 image abroad in the years since 9/11 and, more recently, the advent of Mr. Obama鈥檚 presidency.
A year after Obama鈥檚 groundbreaking Cairo speech, in which he spoke to the world鈥檚 Muslim communities, the new survey finds a falloff in the numbers for America in Muslim countries. Major factors in the soured opinions, analysts say, are disappointment in the perceived lack of follow-through on Obama鈥檚 call at Cairo for better Western-Muslim relations and lingering disagreement with the US military鈥檚 intervention in Muslim countries.
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鈥淭he lack of support [for the United States] in the Muslim world is coincident with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,鈥� said Andrew Kohut, president of Washington鈥檚 Pew Research Center, which conducts the annual survey. He spoke Thursday morning at a Monitor breakfast, where the survey was previewed.
There鈥檚 also 鈥渄isappointment鈥� among Muslims about the US under Obama, Mr. Kohut says. Many have a perception, for example, that the US still 鈥渄oes not deal fairly鈥� in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Still, the survey of 22 countries finds that Obama is more popular abroad than at home 鈥� and that the president鈥檚 popularity continues to boost America鈥檚 global image. Views of the US have jumped in both China and Russia, while Obama remains highly popular in Western Europe.
But US favorability and confidence in Obama have slipped in a number of key Muslim-majority countries, the survey finds. In Egypt, those with a positive view of America dropped from 27 percent in 2009 to 17 percent in 2010 鈥� the lowest level in five years (and thus lower than in a number of the years of George W. Bush鈥檚 presidency). Support for Obama in Turkey fell by a third, from 33 to 23 percent, and on the whole, Turkey 鈥� a NATO ally 鈥� sees the US as a potential military threat.
Also according to the survey: Support among Muslim populations for terrorist actions like suicide bombings and for Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda continues to wane. But what appears to complicate the view of terrorism and efforts to stop it is when US policy and US leadership is brought into the mix.
鈥淲here we see the lack of support is for the US-led actions鈥� like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said John Danforth, co-chair of the Pew Global Attitudes Project, at the Monitor breakfast. 鈥淭he more concrete the actions, the less they like the US,鈥� said the former US senator and former US ambassador to the United Nations.
Others cite a perceived lack of follow-through after the Cairo speech as the key factor in the dip America鈥檚 numbers took in Muslim countries.
鈥淐airo was a very large departure, a speech by an American president in a Muslim country ... and there was a lot of hope that there would be a lot more intervention鈥� by the US on issues of interest to Muslim populations, such as the Middle East peace process, said former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the breakfast. She cochairs the Global Attitudes Project.
鈥淭here is recognition of this [sense of unfulfilled expectation] in the administration,鈥� Ms. Albright maintained. Initiatives such as Obamas鈥檚 recent 鈥�entrepreneurship summit鈥� with Muslim business representatives and organizations suggest 鈥渢hey are trying to find ways that there can be more interaction,鈥� she added.
Of course, with the US experiencing its worst environmental disaster in history and a shaky economy, many Americans will ask: What does it matter what the world thinks of us?
鈥淚t matters because no matter how strong we are, the US cannot do everything by itself,鈥� said Albright. Today鈥檚 biggest challenges 鈥� including the economy, terrorism, and energy 鈥� require multinational and cross-border solutions, the former secretary of State said.
鈥淎ll these issues ... affect our day-to-day life,鈥� she said. And 鈥渋f the US is doing well and is popular, then the US can do something.鈥�
As an example, she singled out Obama鈥檚 focus on nuclear nonproliferation: His nuclear-security summit in Washington in April was the largest gathering of global leadership in the US since the founding of the UN. With Obama popular around the world, she said, leaders from many countries were eager to be seen as associates of the popular American leader and as cooperating with him on important issues.
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