A Presidential Debate In Dubai?
by James Oliphant
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius is espousing a radical notion: Why don’t John McCain and Barack Obama take their contest to the heart of the Arab world?
Ignatius would like to see the two presidential candidates debate in the prosperous city-state of Dubai, sending a message to the Middle East that America is a concerned partner in solving the region’s deep-seated conflicts.
Dubai is also a symbol of the new global prosperity, thriving even as the economy in the United States sputters.
Writes Ignatius in Sunday’s Post:
But the idea of a Dubai debate is appealing, not least because it would link the epochal 2008 campaign with a world that cares passionately about where America is heading. The United States is unpopular abroad these days in part because of a perception that we’re arrogant — that we don’t care what the world thinks. An overseas debate would help change that perception.
And there’s something compelling about taking the campaign to the region that will present the toughest challenges for the next president. Americans will be voting in November partly on how they think McCain or Obama will deal with the war in Iraq, the confrontation with Iran and the threat of terrorism. Why not debate these life-or-death issues in a place that is, almost literally, in the shadow of the war zone?
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