Linked with The Arab American Institute AAI, and with James Zogby and the Politics of Perception.
James J. Zogby (born 1945) is an American academic, political consultant and founder and president of the Washington, D.C.-based Arab American Institute. In 2001, Zogby was elected to the Executive Committee of the United States Democratic National Committee DNC. He is a senior analyst with the polling firm Zogby International, founded and managed by his brother John Zogby, and is a lecturer and scholar on Middle East issues … Writing and advocacy: Since 1992, Zogby has written a weekly column on American politics for major Arab newspapers, Washington Watch, and authored a number of books, including What Ethnic Americans Really Think and What Arabs Think: Values, Beliefs and Concerns. He also blogs at The Huffington Post. In 1984 and 1988 Zogby served as Deputy Campaign manager and Senior Advisor to the Jesse Jackson Presidential campaign. In 1995 he was appointed as co-convener of the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee (NDECC), an umbrella organization within the Democratic Party of leaders of European and Mediterranean descent, to which he was reelected in 1999 and 2001. Also in 2001, he was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee DNC, and in 2006 was also named Co-Chair of the DNC’s Resolutions Committee. Zogby also serves on the Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Committee and on the national advisory boards of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Forum, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Zogby has testified before a number of Congressional Committees and Executive branch forums, most recently on the subject of Arab attitudes toward the United States … (full text).
His Biography on the Arab American Institute.
His blog at the Huffington Post.
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James Zogby – USA
Watch these four videos:
- Interview with John Zogby, part one, 09.54 min, Aug 12, 2008;
- Interview with John Zogby, part two, 9.55 min, Aug 12, 2008;
- James Zogby: The Mess We Are In, 36.01 min, Aug 30, 2006;
- Charlie Rose – O’REILLY / THE ZOGBY BROTHERS, 57.13 min, Dec 28, 2004.
Arab- and Muslim-Bashing Failed in ’08, Nov. 28, 2008.
He says: « I think the American people get it. I think our leadership doesn’t get it. They’ve made a mess ». (James Zogby discusses American policy in the Middle East, 2005).
He writes: Yes, we mustn’t expect too much. We all know it is the establishment that comes first in United States politics. Obama’s presidency could easily be sabotaged by the powers that put him there … (full text, 27 November – 3 December 2008).
… A recent Zogby poll of Obama voters found disturbing (and controversial) results. These voters knew almost nothing at all, and that is hardly an exaggeration. I wonder how many of these voters graduated from college? I wonder how many of them teach at our colleges? I wonder how many of them spent their formative adult years in the bowels of Mein Kampus? (full text, November 24, 2008).
Find him and his publications on ; on ; on sourcewatch; on Google Video-search; on inauthor Google-search; on Google Book-search; on Google Scholar-search; on Google Group-search; on Google Blog-search.
Find the Politics of Perception on ; on ; on ; on Google News-search; on Google Image-search; on Google Book-search; on Google Scholar-search; on Google Group-search; on Google Blog-search.
His political activities on sourcewatch.
Understanding America’s Right Wing, part two, June 04, 2002.
… Zogby was born in 1945 in Utica, New York to Lebanese Catholic parents. He earned his Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from Temple University in 1975. In 1976 he attended Princeton University, where he was a National Endowment for the Humanities post-doctoral fellow … (full text).
Because expectations across the Middle East are so high and the need for change is so great, during the next two months, all eyes will be focused on the early decisions made by President-elect Barack Obama. But precisely because the need is so great, I believe that the region’s leadership should be more than spectators during this critical transition period. This is especially true with regard to efforts to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian peace. The damage done by eight years of the Bush Administrations’ neglect and recklessness is all too clear … (full text, November 24, 2008).
Founder and President of the Washington D.C.-based Arab American Institute (AAI) James Zogby said he is convinced that the U.S. President Elect Barack Obama truly wants to find a responsible way out of Iraq. « Not a rapid and precipitous withdrawal and not one that is destabilizing to the country or its most vulnerable people whom he has identified as the minority communities », added Zogby at a recent briefing on 2008 U.S Election results at the Washington Foreign Press Centre, Washington, D.C. … (full text, Nov 18, 2008).
He says also:… « It is not our values, it is not our democracy, it is not our freedom. To not be terribly disrespectful: It’s the policy, stupid. It is the policy they don’t like. Since everything else is either a net positive or has a plurality of positives and the only negative is the issue of policy, it appears to be the drag that brings the other numbers down » … and: « It puts a lie to something we have assumed – all of us who have been studying the region – which is that satellite television drives the negatives…But satellite television viewers are more positively inclined toward American people, toward American technology, toward culture than those who don’t (have satellite TV). So it is not satellite television that is creating the negatives. In fact, it seems to be on balance bringing the positives » … and: « Young people are a market waiting for America. And young people are actually more than 50 percent of these societies. Therefore there are some avenues for us to move into. We have to look at it. And satellite TV is not our enemy…If you want to do public diplomacy, look at the venues that are available to you…satellite television, the Internet…move people who are positively inclined to us. I don’t think we have taken advantage of those opportunities » … (James’ quotes on The Christian Science Monitor.com, April 12, 2002).
He writes also: Act now, don’t wait for Obama. James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute in Washington is right when he asks the Arabs not to wait for Barack Obama, but to act now. Zogby correctly points out that expectations across the Middle East will be so high of the new American president and the need for change so great that all eyes will be focused on him. The danger in such cases is that people will expect overnight miracles. When those fail to materialize, they will be disappointed and begin blaming the United States once again. This can be described as the « Florida woman syndrome. » The day after Obama’s election, a woman in Florida rejoiced that she would no longer have to worry about paying her mortgage nor about the high price of gasoline for her car because Obama was elected president. This woman is about to have a very rude awakening. Obama may be willing to change much, but unless he receives the support of the people he is trying to help, change will be impossible … (full text, November 25, 2008).
The following list includes « unpledged » or « super » delegates to the Democratic Party’s 2008 national convention. Super Delegates are not elected through the normal primary and caucus process. They are designated by party rules and include high elected officials (members of Congress and governors), party committee members and some former office holders. Unlike delegates awarded through primaries and caucuses, superdelegates are not required to stay pledged to a specific candidate. In 2008, the Democratic Party has designated 796 super delegates. An estimated 4,049 total delegates will vote at the national convention, including super delegates. A candidate needs a total of 2,025 delegate votes to win the party’s nomination … (full text).
And he writes:… From late summer through November a shadowy group with ties to the Republican Party (and also to an Israel-based charity) attempted, in their own way, to insert Islam into the campaign. Beginning at both conventions, they were the responsible for the distribution of tens of millions of copies of an Islamophobic DVD called « Obssession: Radical Islam’s War against the West ». In September alone, the group sent out 28 million copies of « Obsession » to households in battleground states playing the fear card to influence voters. The group has strong ties to the above-mentioned Reverend Hagee and his Christians United for Israel, and the National Jewish Republican Coalition – both of which also engaged in Muslim-baiting tactics this year in an effort to influence voters. There was more. Arab-baiting was used in a number of Congressional campaigns, and by a plethora of right-wing bloggers and talk radio hosts – all of whom worked overtime in an effort to impede Arab American or Muslim involvement and/or smear Islam. (full text, Dec. 3, 2008).
Links:
UCLA Library, digital collections;
2008 superdelegates endorsing Barack Obama;
Obama Mideast Watch: Hillary & Co, December 5, 2008.
Links concerning Politics / Perception:
Google Image-results for Markus Raetz, working with perception;
Politics is Perception, September 2, 2003;
Propaganda and the Politics of Perception, March 12, 2007;
Atonality, Information, and the Politics of Perception;
Affective Tactics: Intensifying a Politics of PerceptionDocument Actions, The problematic of affect raises the question of the relation between art and politics that has concerned the Left throughout its history. Is a politicized art not a step toward social realism? April 2003;
The Politics of Perception, June 8th, 2007;
US Senate recount: the politics of perception, 18 Nov 2008.