Obama’s choice of Cairo as the venue for his address to the Islamic world has raised questions and aroused controversies. Speculations on the core message he will present are keeping the press and the media busy worldwide. For the moment, however, the arrangements and preparations for the visit are making headlines in the Egyptian and Arab media. Until he lands at Cairo airport, there will be a frenzy of activity to ensure that Cairo will sparkle in the June sun on the anticipated day.
It is becoming increasingly evident that Obama has a far more potent touch than Midas, who in Greek mythology turned everything he touched into gold. Obama’s presence is already transforming not only the places in Cairo that he will actually visit but those that he is likely to pass through or even set eyes on.
The Visit Transforms Cairo University Campus
Cairo University will be the major beneficiary of the visit. For decades, it has been looking tired, sagging and bulging in parts. Now it is undergoing a liposuction operation, removing excess fat and giving it a younger and brighter look. The cosmetic surgery undertaken with uncharacteristic and unprecedented diligence includes: polishing the university’s historic dome, cleaning the lights illuminating the campus and the streets leading to it, painting the buildings he is likely to grace with his presence, fixing the internal drainage system, as well as renovating the Nasser auditorium from which he will give his address.
Tightened Security around Campus
Along with the preparations, security has been stepped up around the campus. There are already restrictions on entry into the campus especially by journalists and photographers. Exams will be canceled on that day and the students and staff alike will be given the day off.
Recalling Nixon’s Visit in 1974
It is unlikely that Obama will meet any ordinary Egyptian on this fleeting but significant visit. The last American president to have been given a popular reception in Egypt was Richard Nixon, who was received by President Sadat in 1974 with great pomp and ceremony. It was a few weeks later that Nixon left office following the Watergate scandal. The extraordinary hospitality extended to him in Egypt underlined the Sadat regime’s absence of political insight.
Obama, however, may wish to come face to face with ordinary Egyptians and may decide to go it his own way, as he often does. He may wish to treat Cairo the way he treated Ottawa in Canada, when he went to buy BeaverTail cookies for his daughters on an impromptu impulse. He may decide he would like to buy some Egyptian baklawa to take back home with him. In a city of more than twenty million inhabitants, such a wish, simple as it is, may represent the biggest challenge his security apparatus will be likely to face.
References:
Ezzat, Dina. “Cairo Counts down to Obama.” Al-Ahram Weekly, No. 949, 28 May-3 June 2009.
