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People across the Middle East have been roiled
by political change for nearly two years,
So it's perhaps not surprising
the U.S. presidential election
is failing to garner much interest.
Few are expressing a preference
for either President Barack Obama
or challenger Mitt Romney,
even as both make the Middle East
a key foreign policy issue.
Romney sees a region in chaos.
"We're talking about the Middle East
and how to help the Middle East
reject the kind of terrorism we're seeing
and the rising tide of tumult and confusion."
For some in the Arab world,
any talk of "help" from any U.S. politician
comes across as arrogant.
Ayman Kamal is a store clerk in Cairo.
"It's as if it's a teacher
holding a stick to the student -
as if Arabs are students
in a classroom in front of him.
This is all I see from America."
Others fear continued U.S. military
interference in the region,
despite calls for caution from President Obama.
"For us to get more entangled militarily in Syria
is a serious step."
And Mr.Romney.
"We don't want to have military involvement there."
"We don't want to get drawn into a military conflict."
Author and political scientist Hassan Nafaa
says it doesn't matter who wins."
Because it doesn't make any difference
whether we have Obama or Romney.
But the intellectuals,
certainly, would prefer Obama, rather than Romney
because he will be more careful in using force
to achieve the U.S. goals and interests."
Mr.Obama raised high hopes in 2009,
promising a fresh start for the U.S. in the Middle East
during a speech in Cairo.
But disappointment followed,
as did the Arab Spring.
Agathon Shehata is a Coptic priest.
"Obama's policies were not what we much expected.
I can't say more,
just we didn't expect them to be like that."
For Hassan Nafaa,
the biggest disappointment was no change
in U.S. policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
"Everybody knows the United States,
whoever is governing
this big important international actor,
will be very much supportive to Israel."
"So, as long as the U.S. president doesn't change
the current American policy in the Middle East,
we will see the United States
as playing a negative role in this part of the world
and nothing will be changed.
Both candidates have pledged full backing
of America's long-time ally
and that continued support
is a perennial rallying cry
for anti-Americanism in the region.
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