Egypt. Cuba. Ukraine. They’re three countries where President Obama had a chance to use his office for positive change. Instead, they’re three countries whose citizens are disappointed in Obama’s lackluster efforts to help.
Politico’s foreign affairs correspondent, Nahal Toosi, visited the three countries to see how people felt about Obama. The consensus seems to be that people are thankful Obama has tried to help, but he should have done much, much more.
“Many Ukrainians believe Obama is too meek in the face-off with Russia over their country,” Toosi writes. “Egyptians fighting for democracy and human rights feel abandoned by Obama, who has had to balance their shifting desires with the U.S. national interest. And Cubans, while grateful to Obama for his efforts to open up their communist system, express impatience that he has not done more to speed up their slow — very slow — march toward prosperity.”
In Cuba, Toosi spoke to Mercedes Fernandez, a retired secretary, who said if she could she’d tell Obama, “Thank you for trying to help and to open a way for the future for us. But it’s too late, because you’re almost finished, and we don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
When it comes to conflicts with Putin, one Ukrainian says Obama needs to “be brave, much more brave.” Yury Karamanestha, who had to flee eastern Ukraine, says Obama “must risk more in his life.”
Other Ukrainians are disappointed Obama never went to Ukraine to see the situation for himself. “It’s really disturbing in a way that President Obama never found the time to come to Ukraine,” Oksana Nechyporenko, who protested in Kiev in 2013 and 2014, told Toosi.
In Egypt, as of 2014, only 19 percent of the population has confidence in Obama. “We thought he would save the world from the terrorists,” Hiba Rustum, a computer science student, told Toosi. “But he did the opposite.”
According to Pew Research Center poll numbers, Cuba, Egypt and Ukraine aren’t the only countries where Obama has lost some of his favor. In Jordan, for example, confidence in Obama fell from 31 percent in 2009 to 14 percent in 2015. In Argentina, confidence fell from 61 percent to 40 percent in the same timeframe. And confidence fell by 7 percent in Israel.
In other countries, confidence has remained high while still declining slowly. In France, for example, confidence in Obama dropped from 91 percent to 84 percent in 2016. Confidence in Obama dropped by 14 percentage points in Kenya, but still remains at 80 percent.
Despite their disappointment in Obama, the rest of the world seems to want Americans to elect another Democratic president in Hillary Clinton, as long as Donald Trump stays out of office. “Trump? I don’t love him at all,” Rustum said.
Sasha Lytvynenko, an executive assistant in Ukraine, says electing Trump, combined with Putin already in office, would be “double bad. … Everyone will be stuck in a bad sandwich.”
Fernandez says, “Don’t fool yourself. Do you think a millionaire is going to come [to Cuba] to help poor people?”
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
