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Home >> United States & Canada >> Elections & Politics The change Obama believes in Ted Belman - 3/13/2008 Obama has taken offense to the mention of his middle name “Hussein” and to the publication of his picture shown in East African garb and has been at pains to say he never was a Muslim, notwithstanding that anyone born of a Muslim father is automatically regarded as Muslim. Amir Taheri describes what change Obama has in mind for the Middle East. In essence, Obama wants to accommodate Islam, even its radicals,
President Bush has chosen the “iron fist” - invading Afghanistan and Iraq, quarantining the Islamic Republic in Iran, keeping Syria’s Baathist regime in check and helping a dozen Muslim states fight al Qaeda or its variants. McCain and Clinton offer variations on the same theme, albeit with twists and turns to satisfy their constituencies. By contrast, Obama offers a policy of dialogue and accommodation. He has opposed listing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization and proposed a grand bargain with Syria’s rulers. He is even prepared to ignore two UN Security Council resolutions that require Iran to stop its uranium-enrichment program as a precondition for talks at the highest level. He has campaigned for a formal congressional move to prevent Bush from taking any military action against Tehran. In an important symbolic move designed to signal an end of the special relationship between Israel and America, Obama has become the first major presidential candidate in 25 years not to commit himself to transferring the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Last but not least, Obama has promised to withdraw from Iraq in his first year in office - meeting a key demand of all radical Islamist forces, Sunni and Shiite. The message is clear: Obama wants a new relationship with radical forces in the Islamic world while distancing America from its traditional regional allies. In other words, he proposes to reverse policies that have taken shape over more than six decades under 12 successive American presidents. It’s this revolutionary idea that deserves to be examined and debated, not the origin and meaning of Obama’s middle name.
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