As US Election Season Heats Up for Middle East, Only Worse May be Yet to Come
First of all, a first term president will be forced to yield to the pressures of lobbying groups like the enormously powerful pro-"Israeli" lobby Aipac, whereas a second term Obama might have some leeway as many pro "Israeli's" in Washington themselves say and fear.
As it now seems quite obvious as to who will be the Republican nominee who will take on US president Barak Obama in the race for the white house in November, the atmosphere of competition has clearly intensified, signaling a new phase. A clear indicator of this new phase is the media campaign being launched by the Republican party establishment. "American Crossroads" which is referred to as a "SuperPac" has taken the lead in this process.
This Superpacis made up of over 500 organizations dedicated to the Republican Party and its candidates. Thus far "American Crossroads" has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on media ads; the target being incumbent president Obama. These media ads harshly criticize Obama, particularly his handling of the economy. According to Mike Lane who is the President of the American Institute for Foreign Policies and a consultant to the Intelephant Strategies Institute, this constitutes an attempt to "define President Obama in a way which shows him unacceptable to the electorate".
In other words it is pre-emptive action targeting Obama before his campaign is up and running and ready to respond. Lane implies that the Republicans have chosen for this media campaign to target Obama rather than to promote Romney as the "negative coverage on the opposing candidate has proven to be more effective than the positive coverage of the endorsed candidate".
The media campaign has so far focused on the economy which continues to be a major concern in the US and remains the top priority for the electorate. According to Lane the media ads will continue to target Obama's economic record, particularly the lack of Job growth and the budget deficit.(the economy has been the most problematic issue for Obama and has been the most damaging for his popularity and he is seen as somewhat vulnerable in this area in addition to the fact that Romney is trying to take advantage of his success as a Business Executive to promote his economic credentials and portray himself as the economic savior).
While many in the US will probably be carefully following the candidates and their media campaigns , the situation outside the US differs, especially in the Middle East. In this region there is an increased indifference towards US elections because of the constant US policy of all out support for "Israel". The policies pursued by Obama only promote this indifference as out of all US presidents, he was probably seen as the biggest chance for some real change in US policies in the Arab and Muslim world.
However his policies thus far have been a big disappointment for those in the Middle East who had such optimism upon his arrival to the White house. His administration has increased military aid to "Israel" and military cooperation with "Israel" to unprecedented levels (he himself has mentioned this on numerous occasions). And his administration continues to come to "Israel's" aid at the security council as well.
However a change in the white house this time around will most definitely lead to a bigger pro-"Israeli" approach. Mike Lane as an analyst who supports the republican party and strongly defends US support for "Israel", says that "Obama while expressing strong rhetorical support for "Israel" has not developed a working relationship with the current "Israeli" government" .He goes on to say that this has led many to believe that Obama "might even stop working with "Israel" if he is elected again as he will have more leeway as a second term president"(more leeway here clearly to resist pro-"Israeli" groups in Washington).Indeed this argument actually resonates with many well-known right wing pro-"Israeli" commentators in the US who have even accused Obama of being too harsh on "Israel" and too pro-Palestinian or pro-Arab!
Some even predict that further down the road in the run up to the race for the white house, the media campaign of the republicans might even be used to focus on Obama as some kind of pro-Muslim figure who is "un-American" as this line of talk is not far from the line being taken by Republicans.
There are also two other major factors which support the argument that a Romney victory will lead to an event stronger pro "Israeli" policy:
Second is that the Republican party in becoming increasingly identified with Christian conservatives as right wing movements who believe in support for "Israel" from and ideological perspective. This hence adds an ideological element to the pro-"Israeli" orientation which is reminiscent of the days of the Bush administration.
So while for some American people a new president may mean a better situation with an improved economy, for the people in the Middle East a new president will only mean that the worse is yet to come.
