Obama’s Potential for the Normalization of the Middle East

Even though it still may be too early to make such assessments, one could claim that Barrack Hussein Obama did bring a certain spirit of change with his assumption of the presidential office. Besides domestic concerns, Obama has become confronted with the complex Middle East, which has been longing for solution and brighter future. Thanks to his completely different rhetoric, more tolerant approach, as well as his unique background, one would think that Obama has full potential to bring desperately needed changes to the Middle East. The region has been home to numerous crises, which, when combined, cause unsolvable quagmire that is of critical moment to many involved parties’ interests. Even though the whole situation is much more complicated, one could claim that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies at the core of the overall problem. However, despite his favorable characteristics Obama still remains constrained by many other factors, two of which will be covered in this paper. Like many preceding U.S. presidents, Obama is also being affected by the standards and expectations of the sociological phenomenon called (American) Civil Religion—the set of American ethical and moral principles, closely associated with Christian tradition. They tend to elevate the United States and provide a dose of righteousness for its actions. Since Civil Religion greatly impacts the American institutions and foreign policy, it also brings it closer to Israel, making the relationship between the two rather natural. Another factor is, regardless of how controversial this may sound, the Jewish Lobby in the United States. The Lobby greatly impacts the U.S. foreign policy in order to make it more favorable or at least acceptable to Israel. The combination of the influences of the two factors may be seen in Obama’s reluctance to decisively deal with the illegal Israeli settlements and their constant expansion into the so-called Palestinian territories. In terms of the relationship to Israel, Obama is not different from his predecessors, and therefore it is necessary to wonder what his actual potential may be in solving this particular crisis, which (if solved) would greatly simplify the overall Middle Eastern quagmire thus increasing the slightly idealistic prospects for the sustained and permanent peace in the region