Flags are displayed on the US Capitol as preparations continue for the second inauguration of US President Barack Obama in Washington on 18 January 2013. Source: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images[/caption]
“When innocents in Bosnia and Darfur are slaughtered, that is a stain on our collective conscience. That is what it means to share this world in the twenty-first century. That is the responsibility we have to one another as human beings.”
This was the American president’s message to the Arab and Muslim world in June 2009, expressed in Cairo during a speech billed by the American administration as a “new start” with the Muslim world. It came five months after Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as president of the United States. And yet, as President Obama is sworn in for a second time on Sunday, 20 January, there is “a stain on our collective conscience,” that grows deeper and bloodier by the day as the death toll in Syria continues to mount.
President Obama’s second term may hold many domestic challenges, yet his international standing will be measured in terms of what is happening beyond America’s borders; events which now often fall outside the president’s influence. The crisis in Syria forms only part of the greater changes in the Arab World that continue to challenge US foreign policy; while there are constants such as the Arab-Israeli conflict and the stalemate with Iran that demand renewed efforts.
President Obama’s campaign shift from “Hope” in 2008 to the much more pragmatic and sober “Forward” four years later is reflected in his changing approach towards the Middle East. The new Obama administration is not looking to inspire “hope” in the Arab World; instead, it is pushing forward with a tough agenda for the Middle East, now further complicated by the new war in Mali. While the president remains the same, the anticipated departure of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta opens up opportunities for new and innovative approaches to these challenges, rather than major policy shifts. As the nominees for secretary of State, John Kerry and secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, await Senate approval, President Obama’s nominations already indicate greater and more direct engagement with the Middle East than the last four years have witnessed; both men are recognized for their long-standing experience in the region.
Despite the ever-present financial crisis and Obama’s on-going battle over nominations for key administrative posts, the American president cannot afford to squander more time avoiding the most pressing issues on the world stage. Over sixty thousand people have been killed in the Syrian crisis, and millions more displaced. The conflict in Syria has increasing implications for a region of vital significance to the United States.
In his inaugural speech of 2008, President Obama stated, “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” The new Obama team will have to decide how to extend America’s hand if it is to unclench Assad’s fist. Alternatively, the US may decide to withdraw that hand and embark on what many people perceive to be the start of an American detachment from the region.
President Obama may find it useful to remind himself of his own words in June 2009: “Human history has often been a record of nations and tribes subjugating one another to serve their own interests. Yet in this new age, such attitudes are self-defeating.” The president and his new team will have to avoid these self-defeating attitudes if their influence is to survive in the Middle East today.
