Diehl: Deflated Arab Hopes

Jackson Diehl with the Washington Post has written a column describing Arab disillusionment over the lack-luster reality of President Obama‘s Middle East reform proposals.  While noting that the peace process “bubble burst two months ago” he explains that Arab reformers across the region are disappointed by the lack of renewed reform efforts following Obama’s Cairo speech.

He argues “the Obama administration, in contrast [to the Bush administration], often speaks as if it does not recognize the existence of an Arab reform movement.” For example, he cites a speech from Secretary Clinton at the Forum for the Future in which she highlighted Obama’s commitment to reform but then stressed the administration’s practical focus on entrepreneurship, science and technology, and education, without ever mentioning democracy.  When pressed about the need to support democracy she explained, according to Saad Eddin Ibrahim, “they have a lot of other things on their plate.” Diehl concludes: “Regardless of what the president may have said in Cairo, Obama’s vision for the Middle East doesn’t include ‘a new beginning’ in the old political order.”