But Mom, Do I HAVE to vote for Barack?

MESH has a very interesting, off-the-cuff observation about the appeal of Barack Obama in the Middle East. Evidently, Arabs are just as taken in with his background and oratory as the Democratic electorate.

A friend from the Gulf tells me her young relative was so excited about the Democratic candidate that he tried to donate money over the Internet, as he’d heard so many young Americans were doing. Then he found out he had to be a U.S. citizen to do so. Another young woman, visiting from next-door Saudi Arabia, said that all her friends in Riyadh are “for Obama.” The symbolism of a major American presidential candidate with the middle name of Hussein, who went to elementary school in Indonesia, certainly speaks to Muslims abroad.

While TSK still has serious concerns about Obama's foreign policy credentials (his overconfidence in personal diplomacy and naive bromides about ending genocide, for example), it's becoming increasingly apparent that Obama will receive a better reception abroad than any other candidate. If Obama is able to leverage that goodwill into concrete gains, than he could prove to be just as good as Hillary or McCain. Diplomatic traction is a precious commodity, and the prospect of the Middle East welcoming the election of a new president (and not just the removal of Bush) is a powerful asset for the Obama campaign.