DOHA DOMESTIC economic and social issues are far more important than the foreign policy in the 2012 US presidential elections to be held early next month, according to a panel discussion held at the Brookings Doha Center on Wednesday.
They also said that both the candidates in the election fray do not hold any radically different views as far as their Middle East policy is considered.
Moderated by Director Brookings Doha Center Salman Shaikh, panellists included Director of Research, Brookings Doha Center Shadi Hamid, Ghada Oueiss, senior presenter at Al Jazeera Arabic.
Danielle Pletka of American Enterprise Institute and Tamara Cofman Wittes, director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy took part in the discussion through a video conferencing session from Washington.
Opening the discussion, Tamara Cofman Wittes said that economic policies of both the candidates would determine the outcome of the 2012 election results. She said “Domestic economic and social policies have taken the centre-stage in the election campaign over foreign policies. Voters are far more concerned with the domestic economic situation and other matters that affect daily life. Therefore the coming US administration would focus on strengthening the nation and the security issues of the nation.”
She also opined that this was evident in the response of the people to the second television debate of President Barack Obama as well as the Republican candidate Mitt Romney. “The third debate will be all the more important as both the candidates will present their views on many of the domestic issues,” she added.
Ghada Oueiss pointed out that the US policy on the Middle East needs to be revised. She said, “The coming US administration would face more challenges and responsibilities as regards the Middle East. The winner of the election should change the foreign policy. The Iraq muddle was a big issue back in the US as it has created a lot of trouble for the US and therefore must be one of the reasons why the US is not ready to get involve in Syria. Similarly, there was no progress on the Arab-Israel issues and Palestine still continues to be a big problem for the US.”
She wondered as to why the US was unwilling to recognise Hamas which won the elections in 2006, and herself came up with the explanation that US still stands for its own interests and the interests of its ally Israel.
Danielle Pletka opined that Mitt Romney seemed to be more engaged in the Middle East than President Obama.
She said, “Romney seems to take more active role in the Middle East than President Obama. The winner will have to face a number of challenges from various quarters such as the re-emergence of Al Qaeda groups and the uprisings in various parts of the Arab world.” Shadi Hamid said that Middle East policy has become a liability for President Obama.
He said, “There is the issue of trust. Israeli leaders do not trust Obama while many others feel that Obama has done more than many others for Israel. Similarly, Israel and Gulf leaders think that Obama is not serious about Iran.” He also added that the recent attacks on US diplomatic outposts in Libya, Egypt and other parts of the Arab world have renewed debate about national security issues and US policy in the Middle East.
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