THE WASHINGTON TIMES – EDITORIAL: The president’s outreach to Islam has failed
President Obama is attempting to salvage his flagging Middle East strategy. In his scheduled speech today on the events in the Middle East and North Africa, Mr. Obama may also try to claim a measure of credit for the changes sweeping the region. This will be a tough sell, especially to the supermajorities of people in that part of the world who simply don’t like America.
The latest polling from the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitude Project shows that Mr. Obama’s much-heralded outreach to the Muslim world has failed. In Egypt, site of the June 2009 Cairo speech that kicked off the effort, the United States has a 20 percent favorability rating, seven points below where it was in 2009. In Pakistan, U.S. approval is 11 percent, a five-point drop since the Cairo speech. These surveys were conducted before the flap over charges of violatingPakistan’s sovereignty in taking down Osama bin Laden. In Jordan andTurkey, two important regional allies, American approval is 13 percent (down 12 points) and 11 percent (down four points) respectively. ForObama defenders who argue he inherited this problem from the George W. Bush administration, note that in 2006, U.S. favorability in Egyptstood at 30 percent and in Pakistan at 27 percent - still not good numbers, but higher than any Mr. Obama has generated. Continue reading and comment » | Editorial | Wednesday May 18, 2011
