Obama and the Muslim World

BEIRUT-- Incoming American President Barack Obama faces major challenges and opportunities in the foreign policy realm, and he is getting plenty of free, unsolicited advice. Here's my contribution on an issue that he -- in an interview with the Chicago Tribune earlier this month -- defined as a priority for his administration: improving the U.S. image in the Muslim world.

He plans a major speech in an Islamic capital, to emphasize that the United States is not waging war against Islam or Muslims. This is a simplistic approach that he should drop quickly, because it reflects the failed strategy of George W. Bush that treated Muslims as simpletons who could be swayed by nice words, rather than adults who react to how people and countries behave, not merely what they say.

Bush devised a two-pronged counter-productive foreign policy in the Middle East that was defined by: 
a) sending troops to Iraq, largely ignoring the Arab-Israeli issue, misreading Islamists' real power and legitimacy, misdiagnosing the terror phenomenon, and supporting freedom and democracy in most of the Middle East, while also supporting police states and life-long autocrats; and, 
b) aggravating all these facts on the ground by sending Karen Hughes and her battalion of public diplomacy cheerleaders to tell us that Americans love their children. The combination was deadly -- and was aptly, if unceremoniously, captured forever by the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush ten days ago.

Obama can get off on a better foot by accurately diagnosing how and why his predecessor failed on both the policy and public diplomacy fronts, and making sure that he does not simply repeat those mistakes. By planning a speech in an Islamic capital aimed at making Muslims feel better about American foreign policy aims, Obama would perpetuate the core mistake that helped make Bush-Hughes such a catastrophe: a focus on words that seek to explain American foreign policy aims, while ignoring that the vast majority of Muslims and others around the world, in fact, react to American deeds, not speeches. 

Saying that he sees "a unique opportunity to reboot America's image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular,'' Obama told the Chicago Tribune of his unrelenting" desire to "create a relationship of mutual respect and partnership in countries and with peoples of good will who want their citizens and ours to prosper together," adding that the world "is ready for that message." 

That's very sensible, and the world indeed is ready to re-connect with the United States. The best way for him to do this would be to quickly articulate, but simultaneously put into practice, some basic principles that will define his administration's foreign policy. 

For example, he could say that the United States will provide more support for countries that hold certifiably free elections, enjoy a truly independent judiciary, give boys and girls equal educational opportunities, or have term limits for presidents, and, conversely, will reduce support for countries that ignore such values. 

No need for regime changes, sanctions, or threats. Just state the policies the United States values and supports -- and that Muslim men and women universally share -- and stand by those countries that put such principles into practice.

He has followed that exact principle vis-à-vis how to improve race relations in the United States, showing that he understands how actions speak louder than words and transcend ethnic, racial or religious divided. In the same newspaper interview he said: "The biggest challenges we face right now in improving race relations have to do with the universal concerns of Americans across color lines." 

"If we are creating jobs throughout this economy, then African-Americans and Latinos, who are disproportionately unemployed, are going to be swept up in that rising tide. I think that, more than anything, is going to improve race relations, a sense of common purpose.'' When he was a candidate, he made a historic speech about race relations in the U.S. As president, he understands that speeches are not enough to improve race relations. More critical are a sense of common purpose and improving all citizens' well-being through job creation and other practical improvements to their lives.

He should quickly understand that the same principle applied to what he calls "the Muslim world" -- that there is no Muslim world, any more than there is a monolithic Christian or Black world in the United States.

There are around 1.3 billion Muslim men, women and children whose living conditions vary considerably, depending on the political and economic systems they live in. If he truly wants to develop a relationship of "respect and partnership," and if he really values "common purpose," he needs simply to understand their legitimate grievances, and work with them to address those issues through sensible domestic and foreign policies by all concerned. Speeches are easy. Sensible policies are much more effective.

Rami G. Khouri is Editor-at-large of The Daily Star, and Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, in Beirut, Lebanon.