Joy, Cautious Optimism Permeate Arab Media

"Americans Chose Change" was the striking blue headline in Wednesday's An-Nahar daily of Lebanon, whose noted columnist Zayan wrote of a new dawn for the U.S., with ramifications that will be felt by the Third World and oppressed people worldwide.

An-Nahar: Americans Chose Change (Abu-Fadil)

Cartoonist Armand Homsi of the same paper illustrated international expectations as an orchestra without a conductor and a caption that read: "the world awaits the new American president."

Armand Homsi cartoon (An-Nahar)

Lebanon's popular Al Akhbar headlined with: "Black Kennedy to the White House."

Reactions in Lebanon to the election of Sen. Barack Obama have been mostly favorable given President George W. Bush's track record of failures in the region, and what will become his legacy of war and wanton destruction of a country like Iraq and his broken promise to seek an equitable solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict before leaving office.

Lebanese Taline Prescott-Decie, Middle East and Africa marketing manager for U.S. publisher McGraw-Hill's business and humanities titles, suggested Obama's acceptance speech should be included in all public speaking books.

"I feel nothing but respect for the American people who proved to the world that democracy still exists. I expect Obama will be up to the challenge ahead," she said.

LBCI TV hosted military analyst Elias Hanna who said the Reagan era was over because the international context had changed.

Analyst Elias Hanna on LBCI TV (Abu-Fadil)

"The Evil Empire no longer exists. There have been other unsavory actors but they've been mishandled by successive administrations," he opined, so people should temper their expectations of President-elect Obama's ability to solve the world's problems, particularly in the near future.

In neighboring Syria, the state-run daily Tishreen was low key in its coverage: "Barack Obama, first U.S. president of African origin, and McCain concedes defeat."

Arab media covered the wave of optimism that swept through the region with Al Arabiya satellite TV channel noting its impact on the Gulf financial markets' gains resulting from Obama's election as the U.S.' 44th president.

Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV's footage of the victory celebration in Chicago zeroed in on black former Democratic presidential contender Rev. Jesse Jackson overtaken by emotion with tears streaming down his face.

Sister network Al Jazeera International, that broadcasts in English but is unavailable to viewers in the U.S., aired a report from Anchorage, Alaska, on how Gov. Sarah Palin had been an albatross to the Republican campaign and would go back to her job where she at least still had some cheerleaders.

In war-torn Iraq, Azzaman newspaper ran a front-page story saying Republicans had tried to halt Obama's record advance with a lawsuit to extend voting another 10 days for the military.

The Sudan Tribune's headline was: "U.S. election gives historic victory to Obama." It said the president-elect was a staunch proponent of sanctions against the current Sudanese government and had co-sponsored six measures to support Sudan divestment, international peacekeeping and a no-fly zone in Darfur.

Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat published the picture of an African-American wearing a Martin Luther King, Jr. T-shirt emblazoned with his famous line "I have a dream" under a headline: "The dream has come true: A black president in the White House."

The Yemen Times said: "Historic election electrifies Americans." Its New Mexico-based reporter said minority groups' representatives he'd met in Albuquerque supported Obama because they had suffered from the economic downturn and from racism.

Some of the region's papers, including Egypt's Al Ahram, had gone to press before tangible or final results were broadcast so their stories reflected a wait-and-see attitude.

Elaph, the first online Arab newspaper, led with: "Victory celebrations light up Chicago." It deployed 25 correspondents who filed stories around the clock from numerous American and international locations.

Elaph's upbeat headline (Abu-Fadil)

Comments

[enochsmoky]

Who were the terrorists rooting for in this election? They know who will stand up to them and who will run. The same people who cheered the destruction of the Twin Towers are now cheering the election of Barack Obama. Is not that a cause for concern for the American people?

[NC4Obama]

Why would terrorist want someone who is supported by the entire world leading the US?

[Doomestic]

Terrorists? According to the most widely reported news info, Al-Qaeda was supporting the election of McCain secretly because it will further increase the animosity towards the Islamic world, which is great for the terrorist's recruitment efforts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/21/AR2008102102477.html

Secondly, the cause for concern is that you are being influenced by what the "terrorists" think, which is exactly what they want.

And finally, flagged for giving the impression that Arabs = Terrorists, on a post that was talking about Arabs, who largely detest Bin Laden for the damage he did to their image in the world.

[PatRyan]

Thanks for the overview. I am sick and tired of having to apologize on behalf of the American people everytime I travel overseas.

It has been a truly embarrassing eight years, but the New Guy is a "once in a generation" politician, and I have high hopes that having the ability to entertain multiple options and make the best decision will be the hallmark of Obama foreign policy.

[cmp]

You and me both. I even swap nationalities once in a while when the climate dictates. Being bi-lingual comes in handy sometimes when you're abroad and the prevailing wind is anti-Bush. Bush ? Bush who ?

[Doomestic]

I am an Palestinian. After 8 years of Bush, there is a tremendous amount of distrust and doubt in amongst the Arabs in American Politics. Every one is cynical and rather not expecting any real change from Obama towards the Arab world. We are used to the US government's one handed biased approach to all matters in the middle east.

Already Israel is stoking polarization by warning Obama not to do any negotiations with Iran. With people like Joe Biden and Rahm Emanuel already enrolled in Obama's administration, who are known for their extreme and bluntly one sided support to Israel.

So in essence, we do not expect much, and it seems like we will continue 4 more years of Bush middle eastern policies.

[abdallac]

Unfortunately, I must in principle agree with Doomestic. The choice of Rahm Emmanuel is worrisome as he comes from an extemely pro Zionist Israeli family - as Chief of Staff he is the doorway, filter and blockade of what the President sees, pursues, is informed about etc.

My only hope in this area is that Obama has knowledge of the Muslim world, he has knowledge of the suffering of the Palestinians via various sources (his church, his friends like Samantha Powers and others) as well as his astute and sensitive world view. I am going to TRY to reserve judgement and play the wait and see game.

I don't think he is going to let Israel define what he does and does not do - I don't think he's that kind of guy - but we shall see.

[TommyMcCarthy]

Nice of you to give him a break.....­..

tm

[likeicare]

Obama will be just like Jack Kennedy -- and I loved JFK.

[faith]

The world is pleased that Americans have taken back their country in spite of attempts at fraud and deceit by those who would not have Obama elected as 44th President of the United States. To the world Americans say, we are not fools. We cannot be goaded, cheated, threatened, and put on hold. We have indeed, overcome ! We thank the global communities for their tolerance these past eight years and have confidence that they will allow our new leadership time to adjust and get things righted. Peace to all.