OBAMA’S WEAPON OF CHOICE IS CHARM
by Linda Heard
Arab News
April 21, 2009 Tuesday
Saudi Arabia
I once met an American lawyer-cum-philosopher in Jakarta, whose message
literally changed my life. The transformation in me was so radical
that when I returned home to the UK my mother was worried that I had
undergone a personality change, although she later conceded it was a
change for the better. He told me to meet hostility or even threats
with a smile. This probably sounds strange but nine times out of
ten it works. Firstly because you remove power from your protagonist
who invariably anticipates a like reaction and is totally confused
or disarmed when his expectations aren’t met, and, secondly, you
maintain your own equilibrium at the same time.
And as anyone who is lucky enough to be in a successful marriage
understands, the use of bullying and aggression to get one’s own way
is a road to the divorce court. The best relationships are built on
mutual respect, openness and a willingness to listen.
It appears that President Obama understands these gems of truth only
too well and practices them in both his political and personal life.
The American president’s political style is a complete and refreshing
departure from that of his predecessor’s "it’s my way or the highway’,
which often created enemies where there were none. In less than 100
days in office, he has wooed suspicious Europeans, mended bridges with
Russia, proffered an olive branch to America’s arch enemy Iran, made
positive moves toward Syria, reached out to the "moderate Taleban",
flirted with Cuba and extended an enthusiastic handshake to Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez, who once likened George W. Bush to the devil.
By all accounts, President Chavez has already been won over. Most
observers expected the two leaders to stay out of each other’s
way at the recent Summit of the Americas, so when Obama made a
beeline for his Venezuelan counterpart armed with a smile and a
friendly "Como estâ~@¡s?" to say that onlookers were surprised is an
understatement. In return, he received the gift of a book, personal
compliments and the probability that a Venezuelan ambassador will
finally return to Washington.
Initiating this contact was sheer brilliance on Obama’s part, as is
his new approach to Cuba, which is still lukewarm. If he eventually
normalizes US relations with Havana, lurking Moscow, which has recently
agreed to boost Cuban military defenses, will be out in the cold. If
you think about it, Washington isn’t served by prolonging enmity
against it in its own hemisphere or anywhere else for that matter.
Obama has proved his determination to turn foes into friends and
revitalize cooled relations. This is a winning strategy that even
managed to warm the hearts of the Turks who were in the throes
of deciding upon the direction of their policy vis-Ë~F-vis the US
following the unpopular occupation of Iraq, Washington’s "Armenian
genocide characterization", and Israel’s Gaza onslaught.
Similarly, the Obama administration’s attempts to engage Syria are
beneficial from a US standpoint. As the New Yorker’s investigate
journalist Seymour Hersh recently put it, "There are a lot of people
going back and forth to Damascus from Washington saying there is a
low-hanging fruit for someone to harvest."
In the same article, Hersh quotes former US ambassador to Israel Martin
Indyk as saying, "Syria is a strategic linchpin for dealing with Iran
and the Palestinian issue. Don’t forget, everything in the Middle East
is connected". The aim here, of course, is to prize Syria away from its
ally Iran, which will never happen as a result of censure or threats.
Rather than eat up the world, Obama wants the world eating out of his
hands and he’s already gone a long way to achieving that goal. But
there are some who are bent on misinterpreting his revolutionary
approach of smearing a cast iron fist with lashings of goodwill. They
wrongly perceive this as a display of weakness, a cowardly avoidance
of confrontation or a shameful readiness to appease.
Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, for instance, constantly rolls out
grim-faced Republican senators and right-wing commentators who
invariably say Obama’s behavior doesn’t fit his status as leader of a
superpower. They would prefer an antagonistic, stomping America with
its red, white and blue nose in the air as it looks down at the rest
of us.
A fine example of this entrenched arrogance appears in an article
by an Iranian-American called Amil Imani writing in The Global
Politician. "Mr. President, many Americans are still in shock by
our action at the G-20 summit," he writes. "Your appearance looked
submissive, insulting to millions of Americans and treacherous at
worst. Your naivetŽ is really making it difficult for Americans to
like you…"
He goes on to say, "only a person who was not born in the United
States would commit such a fatuous act. Only a person who considers
himself a citizen of the world would willfully attempt to demolish the
greatest republic and democracy in the world, America, as fast as he
can." It seems to escape Imani that while Obama was born in the US,
by his own admission in the blurb at the end of his column, he wasn’t.
Poor deluded, intellectually-challenged Imani and others of like mind
would do well to reflect on these words spoken by the French Bishop
Franois de Sales: "Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so
gentle as real strength". Bush’s misguided policies thrust the US and
the rest of the planet into a horrible mess. I don’t mind predicting
that the sophisticated, subtle and many-layered policies of the new
man in the White House are just what the doctor ordered. Let’s see!