President Obama’s first formal interview – with Al Arabiya?
Clearly Barack Obama understands the significance of the Middle East, so much so that he chose to give his first formal interview as president to Al Arabiya, as George Mitchell left for the region. It has been airing for a couple hours now on various networks including CNN. Nothing too special…
Although President Obama did sound far more conciliatory than his predecessor, there was nothing new in the interview. Its significance lies elsewhere – it was a political calculation… and a safe one.
Al Arabiya is an international news station that broadcasts in Arabic from Dubai; most of its funding comes from Saudi Arabia. In terms of its popularity and ratings in the Arab world, it is a distant second to the Doha-based Al Jazeera – the network Obama should have sat down with if he really wanted to reach the largest possible audience.
The interview was conducted by Al Arabiya’s Washington bureau chief, Hisham Melhem. It was weak… and the long drawn out questions were typical of Arab journalists who are more concerned with appearing informed than eliciting newsworthy information from the interviewee. Whatever the reason, Melhem made things far too easy.
His recent appearance on Meet the Press must have impressed people in Washington. Melhem made clear that at least on a certain level, he sees eye to eye with the political mainstream in the West and Israel. He was an easy choice to help get the message out. To him, the line in the sand separates moderates from radicals.
“Barack Obama’s going to inherit a huge mess. And then the problem for the moderates is that they cannot show the radicals that there is a workable peace process. If the administration succeeded in stopping, for instance, Israeli settlements on the West Bank, then you could say to Hamas, to Hezbollah, to the radicals, to Iran, there is a workable peace process; there is an active, acceptable alternative to your way, for instance. “
The underlying message is one we’ve heard far too often from Western and Israeli politicians alike: deepen the rift between the ‘legitimate’ Palestinian Authority and troublemakers like Hamas – while punishing the people of Gaza – to show that collaborating with the occupation is more effective than resisting it.
From a US perspective, in the realm of media, Al Arabiya represents the moderates and Al Jazeera the radicals. While such generalizations are inaccurate and unfair, there are reasons for them. Al Jazeera is well known for a certain degree of sympathy to the Palestinian resistance; however, watching news reports on Al Arabiya, one often gets the impression that their editorial line is not too far off from the political agenda of the US government. It raises the question – why is Washington wasting hundreds of millions on the stagnant Al Hurra and its insignificant audience? Surely, Melhem would be a perfect fit at the Springfield based operation… too bad he’s been so critical of what people there do:
“They failed in finding their own niche, and they failed in presenting something different about America to the Arab world… It’s a glitzy operation, a costly operation, with very little impact.”
Why do you guys always have to have a problem with EVERYTHING?! So he didn’t give the interview to Al-Jazeera. SO WHAT! The point is, he gives his first sit down interview as pres with an ARAB station and says some important things. Including not being afraid to mention that he has Muslim family members!
I will agree that Hisham Melhem is a douche though.
Harra means shit right? Could they have chosen a worse name?
al-Hurra means freedom…..khara’ means shit
No wonder the two sound so similar in Arabic.
In case you haven’t already read it…
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/bushama-speaks-pitfalls-of-economism.html
C’mon guys. This is nitpicking if I’ve ever seen it. It was a huge step forward.
The symbolic value of using his first formal television interview as president to speak directly to the Arab world is quite significant. Your criticisms, in merit and value, are insignificant.
Please, I have just written a book on Obama called “El secreto de Obama” (The Obama Secret). I know that he is a good guy and he wants to solve the situation of the wars. Would it be possible to give him a chance?