Obama not yet as unpopular in the Arab world as Cheney/Chimpy, but getting there.

[ConsAreLiars]

Only 20 percent of respondents in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) now view the U.S. president positively, compared to 45 percent who did so in the spring of 2009, according to the 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll conducted by Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution and the Zogby International polling firm.

Moreover, negative views of Obama have skyrocketed – from 23 percent to 62 percent – since the last poll was conducted in April-May 2009. The new findings were based on interviews with nearly 4,000 adults in the six countries between Jun. 29 and Jul. 20 this year.

When respondents were asked to name the world leader they admired most, Obama's standing was less than one percent. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was cited most often (20 percent), followed by last year's top pick, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (13 percent), and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (12 percent).

Erdogan's rapid rise to the top – he was cited by only four percent last year and never mentioned in the 2008 survey – was due to his outspoken denunciation of the 2008-9 Gaza war waged by Israel and the Turkish role in the aid flotilla to Gaza that was intercepted by Israeli commandos at the end of May, noted Telhami.

Much of the disillusionment with Obama appears related to his failure to make progress in achieving a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, according to Telhami, who has conducted eight previous surveys of Arab opinion since 2000.

Asked what policies pursued by the Obama administration they were most disappointed with, 61 percent of respondents in the new poll identified the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. That was more than twice the percentage of the next-most- cited example, Washington's Iraq policy (27 percent).

Edit to add the link and more at: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52393

There is a lot more information in this new poll, which has been conducted since 2000.

A short summary at the Brookings Institutes's site is at: http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/0805_arab_opinion_poll_telhami.aspx

The whole poll is at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2010/08_arab_opinion_poll_telhami/08_arab_opinion_poll_telhami.pdf

(edit to fix a detail)

[Vickers]

1. "respondents in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates"

:rofl:

Who woulda thunk?

"his failure to make progress in achieving a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians"

Gawd, what a fucking loser Obama is...failing to achieve something in a year that has never, ever, EVER been accomplished.

[ConsAreLiars]

4. Yeah, "those people."

Can I guess what you call them outside of DU? I think so. Your dismissive comments make your attitude toward "them" pretty clear.

Do you think this shift in attitude is something unimportant?

[Vickers]

5. Where did I say or imply "those people" ??? Reeding komprehenshun pWns yoo!!!

My point (which you emphatically and pointedly missed last night, and for some reason continue in this thread), is that it doesn't matter *what* Obama does, certain countries will consistently criticize him.

Their criticism of him doesn't mean fuck-all to me, and judging by the generous outpouring of votes for this thread, I'm not alone.

:hi:

[ConsAreLiars]

7. You seem to have the belief that the views of those people in those countries are unimportant.

Seemed to be what you said. Unless I don't quite get some nuance in "Their criticism of him doesn't mean fuck-all to me".

I think views of people in those countries should be seem as relevant and worth knowing.

[Vickers]

9. Like their view that a nuclear Iran is good for the region?

Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

:crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy:

[ConsAreLiars]

10. Knowing how that has changed is important.

I guess you really are what you present yourself as. I regard information as valuable. You apparently don't.

[Vickers]

12. Like the information that Israel is "bad" and Iran is "good" ???

Like you, I encourage people to go and read that ENTIRE article, and not the cherry-picked nonsense you've posted here.

viel Spaß!

[Wilms]

2. You'd think the teabaggers would cut him some slack on a kind of this.

:shrug:

[sandnsea]

3. Yeah, he hasn't waved a wand over Israel/Palestine either

"Much of the disillusionment with Obama appears related to his failure to make progress in achieving a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, according to Telhami, who has conducted eight previous surveys of Arab opinion since 2000."

I guess it's good to know people have the same kind of childish demands in other countries as they do here. I mean seriously, it's not Obama's fault that the leaders of either government are hardlined fools.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. Read the whole article.

There is a lot more going on than you seem to grasp.

[Vickers]

8. Yes, where you can read gems like, "Moreover, a solid majority (57 percent) of respondents..."

"...agreed that if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, it would lead to a 'more positive' outcome in the Middle East region."

:crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy:

[sandnsea]

11. Israel and Palistine don't want peace

I grasp that.

We were all hopeful that people would become open to listening to opposing positions with a trusted leader in the middle. They didn't. So we keep on pushing.

[Vickers]

13. Your considered, common sense replies are not allowed in this thread...sorry.

:P