In America’s struggle against the extremists and terrorists
epitomized by al-Qaeda, the strategic imperatives are to divide the
enemy and neutralize their base. Fortunately for the United States and
its allies, the new American president understands how to do that
— and is uniquely suited to accomplish the mission.
If in the aftermath of 9/11, Western intelligence agencies had tried
to conceive of a leader whose background would enable him to engage the
world’s Muslims, they might have imagined someone like Barack Hussein
Obama. Most analysts would naturally assume that such a person could
never become president of the United States, but if they allowed
themselves to imagine an ideal spokesman for American values in the
world at large, he might well have looked very much like the man
elected last November.
Touring the ancient Ottoman capital of Istanbul recently, Obama
stood as a living refutation of extremist propaganda before he spoke a
single word. The son and grandson of African Muslims, he symbolizes
what is often called “American exceptionalism” — the durable
belief that the United States is the world’s hope to escape the old and
bloody divisions that have been so ruinous for humanity over the
centuries.
He rose through an open and democratic process, despite the legacy
of racism and the vicious smears that denigrated his Christian faith
while depicting him as a secret adherent of radical Islam. His middle
name, uttered with a sneer by bigots during the campaign, is now an
important asset (especially among the Shia in Iran, Iraq, and
elsewhere). He personally embodies the message that America bears no
ill intentions toward Muslims or their nations.
The previous administration’s inability to broadcast that message
effectively was among its most salient and least noted failures. While
American policy in the Mideast has often angered Muslims — not
without reason in places from Israel to Iran — the United States
has other and more inspiring stories to tell as well. American soldiers
were dispatched to protect the people of Kosovo from their Serbian
oppressors, who portrayed the conflict there as a centuries-old clash
between Christianity and Islam.
Meanwhile, millions of Muslim-Americans live peacefully here in the
U.S., under the protection of a constitution that guarantees their
religious freedom. And when those rights have been violated, fellow
Americans of every persuasion have come to their defense.
No doubt, Obama meant to emphasize those aspects of American life in
his Istanbul speech, addressing Turkish students and young people
across the developing world, who long to believe again that the United
States stands for equality, fairness, and decency. That belief was
impossible to sustain during a decade of war, destruction, and torture.
Now the burden is on the president to revive latent admiration for our
country and our values.
Obama’s diplomatic efforts resonate with special strength in Europe,
as well as across the Mideast, Africa, and Asia, precisely because he
does not claim that his own beloved nation is without fault or flaw. He
doesn’t pretend that American exceptionalism means American perfection.
When he rebukes anti-American prejudice abroad, as he did at a town
hall meeting in the French city of Strasbourg, his credibility is
enhanced by honest acknowledgment of our mistakes.
While he returns home to remarkably strong and consistent support
from most Americans, right-wing commentators relentlessly attempt to
portray him as unworthy of trust and deficient in patriotism. They
dishonestly truncate his speeches abroad, slicing out his defense of
the United States and his rejection of anti-American propaganda, while
headlining his candor about our flaws. They accuse him of apologizing
for the war on terrorism, of “submission” to America’s adversaries, and
of “blaming America first” in seeking personal popularity abroad. They
stand for policies that have brought us to the lowest stature in our
history, and they have nothing to offer, no policy or plan, except lies
and deceptions.
The remarkable popularity of President Obama around the world is not
an artifact of anti-American sentiment, but its opposite —
namely, the hope that America will again stand for traditions of
generosity and cooperation. He has made a beginning.
Joe Conason writes for The New York Observer and salon.com.
