Dispatches recommended by Michael Prell:
A new Zogby poll, “Arab Attitudes, 2011,” has revealed that President Obama’s charm offensive in the Arab world has failed. After he promised to restore America’s international reputation, not only does the Arab world hate America more under Mr. Obama than it did under President George W. Bush, it even hates Mr. Obama – personally – more than it detested the swaggering unilateralist cowboy from Texas.
This news likely comes as a shock to Mr. Obama and his advisers, who thought that traveling the Arab world on a so-called “apology tour” and bowing down and bad-mouthing American power would make the Arab world love America more – or at least make the Arabs love Mr. Obama more than Mr. Bush.
But the numbers are in. Across the Arab world, Mr. Obama’s favorability ratings are 10 percent or lower. That means the Arabs hate him more while he bows down to them than they hated Mr. Bush while he was bombing them.