Reflection 8

So, you may have heard about it- but the United States has re-elected President Barack Obama! The domestic coverage of the event has been substantial, but I really haven’t seen much in terms of foreign responses. I found a short article on The Guardian that summed up some of the Middle Eastern attitudes and reactions (or lack thereof). After talking about the graph which demonstrated how the majority of other countries wanted Obama to win in class last Thursday, I was surprised to see the apathy discussed in the article. “There is no sense that the incumbent's second term offers the same sort of hope that his first did, four years ago. With the region now in turmoil, few seem to believe the leader of the world's largest economy and most powerful military has the will to do much about the situation.”

Egypt offered congratulations and a hope of further negotiations and a stronger friendship between the nations. Lebanon was relatively neutral, and both Iran and Syria have been (shockingly) silent. Because of Obama’s stance with the Egyptian protesters, many Gulf states decided to favor Romney for the election. There was one quote that I found rather interesting from a senior Turkish official:  "We expected more from them (The United States over the previous 4 years). Even now, I'm not sure they want to lead. Let's hope they do." While the US is often portrayed as a world leader, do other countries expect that of us? Do they assume we’ll always intervene in their domestic issues and create a better situation? If they look at history, perhaps they should reevaluate that stance. Anyways- I thought some countries in the MENA region would have more to say about their reactions to our election. I found the lack of public statements made by Middle Eastern officials to mean that they many not expect much, particularly seeing as how we’re in the same political position.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/07/middle-east-reaction-obama-election-victory