Obama Comes Tomorrow

Obama comes tomorrow. This is the main news on the streets of Cairo. Many see it as a good thing, especially after eight years of particularly devastating policies carried out in the Middle East and elsewhere. In the liberal corners of the United States there is the same hope that Obama will bring change to foreign policy.

Since I am not in the United States I do not know what the anticipation for Obama’s speech is, or if there even is any, given that once Obama was elected many liberals assumed their complacency and have left it in Obama’s hands to bring policy change. I do know, however, that there are mixed reactions to Obama’s visit to Egypt by Egyptians. As I walked through Khan el-Khalili last night with some friends, many people expressed jubilation over Obama’s visit to Egypt. As one of my Egyptian friends said to me, “most Egyptians find one reason or another to like Obama.” He however was of a different opinion telling me that he does not see Obama making any major changes in the Middle East.

Obama’s visit itself has brought many problems that the US public and even Obama will not see on his visit, starting with his first step onto the Cairo University campus. That first step will be on newly paved ground, where a playground recently stood, but was flattened and paved so that the helicopter carrying Obama can land at the university. This will probably not be rebuilt and is now a bit of public space lost for good

Along with this, there has been massive police activity starting before I arrived on the 29^th. Like any major political event in Egypt, the police are stationed, en masse, days before Obama is set to arrive, as intimidation for anyone who wants to express an opposing position to the Mubarak regime or embarrass it in front of its largest backer. As I walked around the park near Cairo University, I noticed at least 200 police officers surrounding the park and sitting in the back of the large trucks. These trucks will be used to haul dissidence away to State Security for detention and torture tomorrow. My Egyptian friends have expressed that they or people they know have already been harassed by police officers to make sure there will be no disturbances tomorrow. An article from Daily News Egypt has reported that police have also already started the round up people in preparation to the Presidents arrival as a warning to other dissenters that they should rethink their plans for tomorrow.

I ask myself, what good is a speech that is intended to improve US relations with Muslims around the world, when Obama’s presence brings alienation to both Muslims and Christians in the very country that he is a guest? A speech on unity is rendered moot, when existing superiority is flaunted, whether purposefully or not. With the amount of effort of choosing a symbolic location for the speech, Obama should have looked at other latent messages in his visit. Furthermore, although many people around the world and in Egypt look forward to this speech, it does not take away from the reality that Obama will continue policies that allow autocrats like Mubarak to continue, or that military means will still be used in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and any other country that the US sees fit under the pretext of the War on Terror (even if Obama has stopped using that term). I am sure that people on the receiving end of Obama’s foreign policy will lose faith in the new face of American policy much before the American left does. My fear is that this renewed complacency by the left will not end before many more tragedies happen, which no speech will prevent against or be a sufficient apology for.