Obama's Inauguration Through Middle East Eyes

Front pages in the Middle East are still in the thick of making sense of Israel's three-week assault on Gaza. "Every time the events of Gaza are discussed, one must not forget the magnitude of the massacre perpetrated by Israel there," writes Ghasssan Charbel in Dar al-Hayat, in a piece entitled "The Lessons of the Massacre." The Middle East Times put it this way: "Battle of Accountability for Gaza Horrors Begins." Bahrain is busy organizing and paying for a transfer of Palestinian doctors to Gaza to help with care there.

But the Middle East press gave Barack Obama's inauguration its due, too. Here's a sampling:

• Egypt's Daily News: "The inauguration of Barack Obama as the first black American president was a historic moment for the United States, but disparate political forces in Egypt are more interested in what he will do rather than what he says or symbolizes." [...] Head of the Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc Hussein Ibrahim told Daily News Egypt, 'I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic about him, but I hope he undertakes serious efforts in regards to reaching out to the Muslim world, at least more than the Bush administration did. He did say he wants to reach out to the Muslim world and I hope he is true to his word.'"

• Pakistan's Daily News: "If Arab and Muslim eyes were less focused on Washington yesterday it is because the pain of Gaza is too raw. Even so, we too have high hopes that, after eight years of catastrophic American engagement in the region, there will be a more balanced, more intelligent, more collaborative approach from Washington. For more than half a century, the US has treated the region like an errant imperial possession that needs to be taken in hand, but these last eight years have been the worst. [...] He starts with a clean slate and has the good will of everyone involved. There is, however, one crucial point. If we in the rest of the world project all our expectations on President Obama — fixing the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, the international economy and the rest of the world’s issues — then we are the problem. That is the old thinking. Expecting the Oval Office to come up with all the solutions puts the US back at the center of international decision-making. The focus of our expectations has to change as much as Washington’s policies."

• Israel's Jerusalem Post: "ONE HEBREW tabloid headlined a front-page picture of Obama in English: "Good luck." In truth, beyond wishing the new president well, Israelis are apprehensive over whether he will be not just supportive, but empathetic toward Israel - like George W. Bush. [...] Israelis would be wise not to panic at the first sign of turbulence in Jerusalem-Washington relations. American interests in the Middle East are not always in harmony with Israel's. But we have every reason to expect that Obama will support the Jewish state in its quest for defensible borders and genuine acceptance by its neighbors."

• The United Arab Emirates' Gulf News: "Obama made a direct reference to this region in his speech saying: "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect" adding that America "is a friend of each nation". This direct message was a hopeful departure from previous inaugural speeches, even if it remains to be seen to what extent the young president will carry out his promise of engaging America's adversaries."

• Mustafa Akyol in Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News: "For me, one of the striking points in the inauguration ceremony was that it started with a prayer by pastor Rev. Rick Warren, and ended with a benediction by pastor Rev. Joseph E. Lowery. During the whole ceremony, repeatedly, God was praised, His blessing was asked, and His Scriptures were evoked. Imagine if something similar would happen in the inauguration of our next prime minister, who will probably be, again, Mr. Tayyip Erdoğan. Imagine if an imam would open his ceremony with prayers, and another imam would close it with blessings. Imagine if verses from the Koran were read out loud in the nation’s capital, Ankara, in order to sanctify its leadership. Let me tell you what would happen: Turkey’s secularist establishment would go crazy and the country would fall into an acute crisis, and even come to the brink of a military coup. Thousands would rush to visit Anıtkabir, Atatürk’s tomb, and beg for his help against the "Islamists" who had taken over his legacy. Fellow columnists would tell you that the country was falling into "darkness," and that we couldn't waste time with childish things like democracy. Tanks could even hit the streets, as they did in 1997, to stage yet another "post-modern military coup."