I was always into the Spider-Man/Batman model. The guys who have too many powers, like Superman, that always made me think they weren’t really earning their superhero status. It’s a little too easy. Whereas Spider-Man and Batman, they have some inner turmoil. They get knocked around a little bit.

The blogger then posts John McCain's response to the same question:

Batman. He does justice sometimes against insurmountable odds. And he doesn’t make his good works known to a lot of people, so a lot of people think he’s just a rich playboy.

He then answers the question himself [fr]:

Mon choix est fait : je supporte Obama. La réponse de McCain surfe sur le succès populaire du dernier Batman, alors que les conseillers d’Obama ont bien argumenté.

yaman's amateur ramblings, a Syrian student in the U.S., remarks on the Obama campaign's failure to reach out to Muslim and Arab-American voters:

After 8 years of the Bush administration, Muslim and Arab Americans, like others, have been counting on a breath of fresh air to come their way so that they might feel safe and welcome in their own homes once more. When Barack Obama announced that he was committed to change, many felt for the first time that it was possible to hope for something less bleak than the legacy that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld had left behind. Unfortunately the Obama campaign has shown over and over again that it is more interested in playing along with an irresponsible media and its electoral antics, than it is in building solidarity between Americans from all communities and walks of life. If Obama wants to be the candidate of change, he has to exemplify that change throughout his campaign, not only through promises to be fulfilled after the elections.

The blogger concludes by giving his own suggestions on how Obama's campaign could better reach out to this demographic:

If Obama wants to reach out to the Muslim American community, he needs to do it by standing by them in the face of these and similar smear campaigns which are succeeding in making everything Muslim, and everything Arab, “untouchable” when it comes to politics and campaigning in the United States. He needs to take their concerns about immigration, Department of Homeland Security harassment, and foreign policy in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine seriously. If he does this, it will mean more to Muslim and Arab Americans than the invention of token campaign jobs which look good on paper but might not achieve much–after all, even George Bush appointed an advisor to the White House to represent the Muslim community during his term, but hardly anybody from the Muslim or Arab American communities would call that the kind of “change” they were looking for.

From Morocco, Myrtus asks tough questions:

Why is it that everything even remotely Muslim surrounding Obama always ends up in a controversy?
Is it simply because the Obama campaign is spineless or is the Right just too powerful?

Israel Matzav speculates on how Asbahi was hired in the first place:

But there are two other possibilities as to why this happened. One is that Barack Hussein Obama and his campaign see nothing wrong with employing people who are connected to terrorists. After all, as Ed points out, Obama himself spent a lot more time sitting on the same board with William Ayers than Asbahi did with Said.
The second possibility is that the type of Muslim who isn't a terrorist sympathizer - the Noni Darwish's, the Ayan Hirsi Ali's, the Wafa Sultan's - wouldn't work for the Obama campaign and wouldn't attract many Muslim voters.
Neither possibility bodes well for an Obama presidency or for the future of the United States.

KABOBfest's Will, remarking on a story about Gazans buying Obama t-shirts illegally, had this to say about Asbahi's resignation:

This came right when the campaign excised more Arab-Islamic controversy potential. Its volunteer Muslim Outreach Coordinator, Chicago attorney Mazen Asbahi, resigned after 9 days to avoid any unwanted attention to his past associations with groups and individuals some believe to be linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Yes, it's probably all bull. But the standard is higher is when you're an Arab or Muslim. And it's even higher when 12% of Americans think the candidate is Muslim.

* This article also appears in Global Voices Online.

John McCain, despite his Republican affiliation, and Barack Obama have at least one thing in common. They are diametrally different from the man one of them will eventually replace when it comes to the principles they would use in relations to the Maghreb region. Over the past eight years, the Bush administration’s interest vis-à-vis the Maghreb was essentially two sided. Energy and security took over all past considerations. By focusing on these two issues, the White House decided to forget about what the Americans have done for decades in their foreign policy drive: human rights, democratic reforms and economic progress, areas that are likely to be resuscitated while maintaining the oil and security factors intact.

Although many analysts argued that recent American policy toward the Maghreb was meant to chip away European influence on the region, this assessment is farther from the truth and accepting it would be giving far too much credit for the White House and the State Department. I would argue that an American policy toward the Maghreb simply does not exist. In fact, the declining influence of Europe, although returning with a vengeance more recently, was simply the result of Europeans own disengagement from the Maghreb. The Americans have simply squandered the opportunity to fill the vacuum left by the Europeans as they implemented stringent protectionist and anti-immigration policies.

The American political engagement in the region was rather rhetorical with no real impact whatsoever. During the Clinton administration, the idea of a single and unified trading block within the Maghreb has made some headway. Senior administration officials like Stuart Eizenstat, the former U.S. Secretary of State for Economic Affairs have driven their initiatives to attempt to convince Maghreb nations to form a viable economic block, and they were equipped with some incentives. With such an economic grouping, the United States could have a much wider influence and could engineer a final divorce between the Maghreb and Europe, in particular France. The American policy included promises of free trade and a defense alliance with closer integration of Maghreb’s military into NATO in exchange for structural reforms that would cement a pro-American regional grouping. Perfect plan in an imperfect world? Except that the Americans did not have the ability to follow through and did not commit the finances, in face of a growing aggressive Europe Union that was quickly anchoring individual Maghreb countries into the EU’s economy. The final stab to the Clinton-era plan was the take over of the White House by the Republicans who had to deal with unprecedented terrorist attacks on their country, with little appetite on the details as the Eizenstat initiative of the late 1990s was replaced with an inefficient American Program for North Africa.

While they made very little progress toward the creation of a unified regional block in the Maghreb, the Americans focused their attention nearly exclusively on petroleum and security. So much so that the old foe Libya became near ally and certainly not a member of the axis of evil. In the oil sector, Algeria and Libya have been the focus on substantial American investment, essentially buying exploration rights and production licenses. In this case, more credit is to be given to the oil corporations with their strong relations with North African governments rather than the Washington bureaucracy. Even the rapprochement with Libya was heavily brokered by the oil lobby, which saw its competitiveness slip away if nothing was done on the political front. Washington’s openness to the Libyan regime was not just driven by well-thought political motives, but pressure from American oil companies was even more important.

On the security front, further rapprochement with Algeria was critical. That country has decades of experience dealing with an insurgency that has pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda. The Americans had a direct interest in insuring that some security capability is established in the vast Sahel region. This initiative is essentially one that has come from the Pentagon and not much from the White House or the State Department.

Apart from these two strategic areas of interest, very little has been invested in the region. The exception may be a symbolic free-trade agreement with Morocco, which is providing good opportunities for select Moroccan exports but needs proof of long term sustainability. Political engagement has been reduced to security discussions. Economic engagement has been reduced to exploration acreage and production rights. Educational exchanges have been reduced to their minimum and the movement of people between the two extremely restricted by security fears.

The over simplification of the U.S. engagement in the region over the past eight years is likely to take a shot in the arm with President Bush leaving office. His replacement is expected to have a much more comprehensive foreign policy position that would incorporate classic American diplomatic elements that have been used by U.S. diplomats pre-9/11. Even if the Republican John McCain takes office, he is likely to expand the criteria of foreign relations beyond security and oil. His decades of experience make him a different man than President Bush. His awareness of a wider and more encompassing global environment beyond security and oil will be critical in reshaping a better approach to U.S.- North Africa relations.

Senator Obama’s political positions are likely to also challenge the state of affairs regarding U.S. engagement in the Maghreb. His positions on human rights, democracy, free trade, and others mean that there will not be “business as usual.”

For the North African governments the honeymoon may be over. Not only accountability on human issues, economic reforms and democracy are likely to return to the agenda, but some of the gains, perceived to have been achieved, such as the Morocco-US free trade agreement could be revisited in favor of American workers. Whatever the outcome of the November 2008 American elections, North Africa’s capitals should brace for substantial changes in the way Washington will engage with them in the next decade.

Just because Obama people refuse to let two veiled Muslim women to appear behind him during his speech does not mean Obama is discriminating Muslim! Get over your sensitivity plzzz! This is an African American whose name is Barack Husein Obama, who  is running for presidential election in the United states of America against an aggressive Neo conservative group so give the Man a break! Of course his campaign people will do their best to not associate him with what most American voters fear! What happen should be taken as a smart move and a clever long term vision towards wining the Elections.

The blogger surmises that race might play a role in Obama's popularity abroad:

Whenever they “discover” that I am American generally the first word out of their mouths is “OBAMA!”. It probably also has something to do with the fact that Mr. Barack and I am are both brown-skinned. I must also admit that Mr. Barack has done what Michael Jordan couldn't, which is to actually open up peoples minds internationally to the presence of Black-Americans. When i first came to Morocco years ago, i realized that in exporting our TV shows and movies, we almost always showed portraits of White- American life, and people had a hard time even believing there was any significant number of Black Americans in America.

He also discusses the religion factor, stating that many Moroccans see Barack Obama as a closet Muslim:

So, anyway back to “OBAMA!” When Moroccans bring him up to me,they almost always ask me if he is Muslim or they tell me that they think he is Muslim, or that they think he is a closet Muslim. I catergoricaly deny the idea of him being a Muslim. I actually have a little speech that I say, ” Father was from Kenya and of Muslim heritage, but as best we know died an athiest, his mother was an American humanist, he and his wife are now committed Christians.” Sometimes they insist, that no, as soon as he is in office, he will let his Islam show - “do you think he could get elected President of the United States if he was openly Muslim?” they ask me.

He adds that Moroccans, on the whole, do not view Obama as an apostate:

I just thought I'd add to the chatter out there about how the Muslim world would “accept” Mr. Barack. No one here thinks he is an apostate from Islam and the reporters that perpetuate this idea are either careless or have very little understanding of Islam or both. People I have met are generally happy about Obama's
presence in the political arena and are quite shocked when i tell them that I do not believe he will win because America is not ready for a president of
color. They do not understand the depth of racism in America and how we have failed to address it collectively as a society.

And concludes that perhaps Obama represents a larger hope for America:

I guess all this dreaming being done by Moroccans and Muslims in general is for an America that moves past incriminating and bombing Muslims, to electing one its leader. And for Black Americans, there is the dream that after hundreds of years of slavery and racial injustices we might have finally reached that promise land called Equality where someone who looks like us might actually be the President.

There are a lot of people with their hopes tied up in Mr. Barack.

Whenever they “discover” that I am American generally the first word out of their mouths is “OBAMA!”. It probably also has something to do with the fact that Mr. Barack and I am are both brown-skinned. I must also admit that Mr. Barack has done what Michael Jordan couldn't, which is to actually open up peoples minds internationally to the presence of Black-Americans. When i first came to Morocco years ago, i realized that in exporting our TV shows and movies, we almost always showed portraits of White- American life, and people had a hard time even believing there was any significant number of Black Americans in America.

So, anyway back to “OBAMA!” When Moroccans bring him up to me,they almost always ask me if he is Muslim or they tell me that they think he is Muslim, or that they think he is a closet Muslim. I catergoricaly deny the idea of him being a Muslim. I actually have a little speech that I say, ” Father was from Kenya and of Muslim heritage, but as best we know died an athiest, his mother was an American humanist, he and his wife are now committed Christians.” Sometimes they insist, that no, as soon as he is in office, he will let his Islam show - “do you think he could get elected President of the United States if he was openly Muslim?” they ask me.

If the conversation gets to this point, i generally drop it, or change the subject by telling them I actually ran into him once in a bookstore in Chicago a few years ago. I mean far be it for me to deny Mr. Barack the right to be a Muslim.

Please dont take this post the wrong way, I am a commited registered non-voter and will not be casting a ballot, absentee or otherwise for any one in November God-willing. ( please no comments about this, i've heard all the pro-voting arguments)

I just thought I'd add to the chatter out there about how the Muslim world would “accept” Mr. Barack. No one here thinks he is an apostate from Islam and the reporters that perpetuate this idea are either careless or have very little understanding of Islam or both. People I have met are generally happy about Obama's
presence in the political arena and are quite shocked when i tell them that I do not believe he will win because America is not ready for a president of
color. They do not understand the depth of racism in America and how we have failed to address it collectively as a society.

Let me end this post by retelling a dream I had about a week ago( you can tell i've been in Morocco too long when I start using dreams to comment about a “real” situation). In the dream I am at home in America and the door bell rings at about 1 in the morning, I am not startled, I do not think “who could be calling at this hour,” instead I open the door without even looking through the peephole. Barack Obama walks through the door , we both kind of nod at each other, I go back to what I was doing and he goes to the guest room or whatever. Apparently my apartment was like a “safe-house” where he could come and relax away from the campaign. He makes himself at home, goes to the kitchen, etc and I intentionally leave him alone, not asking him about the latest polls or anything. A little later, as I am walking past the guest room I see Mr. Obama praying like Muslims do, making prostrations, etc. I am totally floored and disappointed, not because he is Muslim, but because he lied.

I guess all this dreaming being done by Moroccans and Muslims in general is for an America that moves past incriminating and bombing Muslims, to electing one its leader. And for Black Americans, there is the dream that after hundreds of years of slavery and racial injustices we might have finally reached that promise land called Equality where someone who looks like us might actually be the President.

There are a lot of people with their hopes tied up in Mr. Barack.

Ace of Spades HQ

Horrible, the rumors we conservative bloggers peddle:

“I don't exactly approve of a lot of the things he stands for and I'm not sure we know enough about him. He's got some bad connections, and he may be terrorist connected for all I can tell. It sounds kind of like he may be.”

That remark from noted conservative blogger Fred Hobbes, who, while he's not blogging conservatively, serves on the Tennessee Democratic Party's executive committee.

A cursory glance at the foreign blogosphere would seem to indicate that Obama is the favored candidate abroad. Today's rejoicing in the blogosphere only serves to back up that hypothesis, with bloggers celebrating Obama's potential nomination.

From South Africa, The Times blogger Ray Hartley expresses some concern over an Obama presidency:

Obama spoke of restoring the US to a position of leadership in the free world and the world will no doubt applaud this re-orientation.
But I can’t help feeling that this massive shift in resources from a failed foreign policy to domestic issues might, ironically, see the US become more insular under an Obama presidency.
In order to win over middle America, Obama is going to have to look inwards and back up his promise of “Change we can believe in” with a better life for those battered by the economy.

American student Exuberant Rationality explains Obama's global popularity:

Yes, Barrack Obama is the candidate of choice for the rest of the world. This isn't too surprising, given that he has family living on nearly every continent and his willingness to have open dialogue with everyone, including “enemies.

An African-American blogger, Homeland Colors, recognizes the role of race in Obama's global popularity:

Around the world people of color are rejoicing. They are celebrating, not because Obama is himself the leader they are looking for, but because he shows that one can be born of any race or ethnic group and make something of oneself. For the last four centuries, one had to be of pure European descent to gain certain positions. That era may be over.

Blogger Tane of New Zealand's The Standard puts it simply:

Thank God that’s over.

The first comment on the post stands out:

OK, I am a right of center leaning person but I for one am extremely heartened by the fact that an African American only one generation removed from a hut in a kenyan village is now vying for the most powerful position in the US.

That he could not only be a candidate, but a viable candidate with a real chance of securing the top job, speaks of an optimism that is sadly lacking in the world today.

I don’t know enough about the specifics of the man, but his charisma is self evident.

Eleven-year-old Canadian The World of Isaac shares a brief thought:

Hillary Clinton still says though that she will not make an immediate decision on what course her campaign is going to take. Who knows what that means as Obama has already won!?

Moroccan Laila Lalami encourages readers to rejoice at this historic event:

For those of you who are not won over to the young senator from Illinois, let me just say that there'll be plenty of time to be skeptical. But for now why not enjoy this historic day? One hundred and forty five years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and forty five years after “I Have a Dream,” an African American has become his party's nominee for the presidency of the United States. That is reason to rejoice.

Last but certainly not least, prolific blogger The Moor Next Door shares a smattering of opinions from news and blog sources on his own blog, with the introduction:

After talking with various people and looking over several reactions to Barack Obama’s realization of the Democratic presidential nomination (as well as Mrs. Clinton’s shamelessly arrogant speech), I have decided to post a few of the ones I agree with or find interesting, along with some older statements that I think might be appropriate to the feeling of the occasion (one of which is clearly from the view of his supporters; the other is more ambiguous, and could come from his, Mrs. Clinton’s or John McCain’s supporters.)

Meanwhile, look who he's been hanging out with:
bush_saud.jpg

Don't they look cute together, holding hands like that?

The slight decline in the inter-ethnic violence must be the result of the almost now complete segregation of the Iraqi society. Iraq has been fragmented, shattered according to the whim of the invaders. Divide Et Imperia.

The stooge government doesn't have much authority nor enjoys any meaningful sovereignty, having to constantly be monitored and protected by the American master. A little illustration:

Gun-waving soldiers first cleared all traffic from the streets. Then four black armored cars, each with three machine gunners on the roof, raced out of a heavily fortified exit from the Green Zone, followed by sand-coloured American Humvees and more armoured cars. Finally, in the middle of the speeding convoy, we saw six identical bullet proof vehicles with black windows, one of which must have carried Mr Maliki. […] The Iraqi prime minister was only going to the headquarters of the Dawa party to which he belongs and which are only half a mile from the Green Zone but his hundreds of security guards acted as if they were entering enemy territory.
Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad.

Over one million Iraqi have died as a result of the illegal invasion of their country according to many sources. More than four million Iraqis have now either left the country or been forced to move from their homes and neighbourhoods in order to aggregate with fellow ethnic or sectarian peers. And those numbers are now acknowledged by the Americans themselves, who so far have lost around four thousand of their soldiers for the sake of Chevron, Exxon-Mobile, Carlyle, and the like. Democracy and justice will have to wait.