Press Room

AAI in the News

New Hampshire's Election Influence Felt Worldwide

By Pat Hammond
The Union Leader
Posted on Sunday November 2, 2003

New Hampshire voters have a unique opportunity to shape the Presidential debate so that it addresses the world’s concerns over U.S. policy in the Middle East, an influential member of the national Arab-American community said yesterday.

“You have an opportunity here to do something for the rest of us,” James J. Zogby said in an interview at the New Hampshire Sunday News.

“You”—the state’s voters—“actively meet the candidates, you are the Doubting Thomases as well as the people who take each candidate’s measure,” said Zogby, who was in New Hampshire to take part in a forum at Keene State College.

Mindful of the key role the Granite State’s First-in-the-Nation primary plays in the making of Presidents, the founder and president of the Washington, D.C.-based Arab-American Institute said New Hampshire citizens need to press candidates for policies that will make the Middle East more—not less—stable and secure.

The rest of the world, too, Zogby said, is focused on “our Presidential process because the leader of our country in many ways shapes the rest of the world.

“Therefore,” Zogby said, “when the Presidential candidates come here and interact, this means a chance to engage people and highlight their concerns.”

Since 1970, Americans have fought more battles, spent more money and lost more lives in the Middle East than anywhere else in the world, he said, but we don’t have a national debate on what we (Americans) are doing about the Middle East.

“You can’t run for President of the United States and not talk about the most troubling and consuming dilemma that has defined the issues of all the Presidents of the last 30 years,” he said, citing Presidents Carter and the Iran hostage crisis, Reagan and the Iran-Contra crisis, the first President Bush and the Gulf War, and the second President Bush and the war in Iraq.

“We are not asking them, what are you going to do to make sense of all this?” Zogby said.

Zogby was born in Utica, N.Y., the son of Lebanese-American parents. His mother, who died in 1999, was a teacher and an active member of the community. His brother John is a leading national pollster. He counts President Clinton among his friends.

Zogby’s numerous chairmanships range from organizations to secure Arab American political empowerment in the United States, to his appointment by Vice President Gore to lead Builders for Peace, a private sector committee to promote U.S. business investment in the West Bank and Gaza.

He keeps his eye on the Presidential candidates and the President, but does not publicly endorse a candidate himself, he said yesterday.

How do Arab American leaders view the Democratic candidates for President, who addressed a major Arab American conference in Dearborn, Mich., last month?

“People were very impressed with the position (Sen. John) Kerry (Mass.) took and his self-confidence,” Zogby said. “They loved the fact that Bill Shaheen, a Lebanese-American, was there to introduce him.”

Shaheen is a long-time Democratic committee activist and the husband of former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.

“They also liked (Gov. Howard) Dean’s position on civil liberties,” Zogby said, “but were puzzled by his vagueness on the Middle East.

“They loved (Missouri U.S. Rep.) Dick Gephardt because he is so engaging,” Zogby said.

“It’s not us versus the Jewish community. It’s us and the Jewish community, engaged in a discussion about what the U.S.’s role in the Middle East should be,” he said, dismissing the published remarks of critic Yehudi Barsky who opined in an article that Zogby was for building up Arab American influence and subordinating the influence of Jewish Americans.

Zogby took to task Pentagon official Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin for anti-Muslim comments, but mostly condemned administration officials for failing to rebuke him. But he said Arab Americans are increasing their power and influence and no longer have to endure the bias they underwent as recently as 30 years ago.

A recent research project by Zogby revealed that, contrary to popular belief, people in Arab countries do like Americans and their freedom. “What they don’t like is our policy toward the Middle East,” he said.

“They do not see us living up to our own values. They are not seeing us applying our values to them,” Zogby said.