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The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 4, January 30-February 12, 2009

Obama's New Public Diplomacy Paradigm

President Obama's vision for US public diplomacy vis-à-vis the Muslim world is to shift from the policies of his predecessors to a new paradigm where common interests are emphasized, reports Robert Satloff for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Satloff notes that one of the most memorable parts of the president's inaugural address was repeated in the Al-Arabiya interview. "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," remarked the president.

President Obama also put an emphasis on economic partnership and aid rather than focusing on the promotion of democracy. Nevertheless, Satloff suggests that the president may have made a mistake in his speeches by referring to the 'Muslim world.'

"Radical Islamists believe humanity is divided between 'the Muslim world' and the non-Muslim world," argues Satloff. This unintentional denomination creates a rift that purports the Manichean vision of extremists and deepens ideological rifts.

"The repeated use of the phrase has the effect of emboldening our adversaries," notes Satloff, "because it suggests we are competing on their ideological playing field instead of compelling them to compete on ours."

Satloff points out that the president's comments have been setting the new tone for America's engagement with the Arab world. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how policies will develop and who will be the next Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy.

The president's vision of America's engagement with the Arab world is also being reformulated at a lexicological level as he shies away from the famously coined expression of the previous administration, the "War on Terror," according to the Associated Press.

The phrase "became [inadvertently] associated in the minds of many people outside the Unites States and particularly in places where the countries are largely Islamic and Arab, as being anti-Islam and anti-Arab," said Anthony Cordesman, a national security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

Cordesman added that there is sense today that America needs to be more specific in its denomination of extremists groups and target militants that are a danger to US interests but also to the Arab population of the countries in which they operate.

According to the White House, President Obama is intent on repairing America's image in the Islamic world and addressing issues such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, unrest in Pakistan and India, Arab-Israeli peace talks and tensions with Iran.

Using language is one way to help effect that change, said Wayne Fields, professor of English and American culture studies at Washington University in St. Louis. "One of the contrasts between the two administrations is the care with which Obama uses language. He thinks about the subtle implications," said Fields.

White House officials have claimed there has been no deliberate intention to ban the expression and that the president is merely remaining consistent with the message put forth in his inauguration speech. The expression "the War on Terror" has also been questioned by other members of the administration, specifically by employees at Homeland Security, according to Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball for Newsweek.

A year ago, Homeland's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties prepared a nine-page memo, "Terminology to Define the Terrorists," which explained how the government had solicited recommendations from a "wide variety" of American Muslim leaders. The report suggested that US officials be more careful in their use of language describing counterterrorism efforts. Although the memo did not directly recommend curtailing the use of this expression, it did convey that it contributed to "inflating extremists' ideologies."

Eventually, Isikoff and Hosenball point out that the memo was ridiculed by right-wing journalists and analysts who accused Homeland Security of being too politically correct.