July 21 (Bloomberg) -- A year ago, Palestinian medical student Wessam al-Ghoul in the U.K. thought Barack Obama would break new ground in bringing Middle East peace. Today, he says the Democratic presidential candidate is merely ``the lesser of two evils.''

Al-Ghoul changed his mind after Obama toughened his rhetoric against Iran and said on June 4 that ``Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.'' Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their future capital.

``He has become virtually indistinguishable from any U.S. politician running for office,'' said al-Ghoul, 24. He added that presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, 71, is worse only because he would continue the foreign policies of President George W. Bush, whose war in Iraq, now in its sixth year, has made him unpopular in the Arab world.

Twelve percent of Americans think, wrongly, that Obama is a Muslim, according to a poll this month by the Pew Research Center. Obama, a Christian, spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, and his middle name is Hussein, ``handsome'' in Arabic.

Yet many Muslims around the world doubt the 46-year-old Illinois senator will advance their interests much and expect Obama to leave largely unchanged a U.S. foreign policy they perceive as unfairly tilted toward Israel.

`Radical Rupture'

Obama's comment on Jerusalem, in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was a ``radical rupture with the Arab public,'' said Habib Samarkandi, a professor at the University of Toulouse in France who edits a journal about North African culture. ``We discovered our support was based on illusions rather than the reality of the person.''

Obama sought to clarify his position the day after his speech, saying on CNN that ``obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations.''

``The damage is done,'' Samarkandi said, discounting the explanation.

On his first overseas trip since becoming the Democrats' presumptive nominee, Obama is touring the Middle East this week for meetings with Jordan's King Abdullah, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before heading to Europe. The candidate met Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul yesterday and arrived in Iraq today.

Al-Ghoul, who is finishing the final year of his degree at Liverpool University, said Obama's trip will be followed closely by Arabs who want him use the visit to make conciliatory steps toward the Muslim world to further distinguish himself from his opponent.

`Business as Usual'

``McCain would be business as usual for the Middle East,'' Al-Ghoul said.

There are 24 countries in the Arab world, which has a combined population of 325 million. A March-April 2008 Pew Research poll taken in 24 Arab and non-Arab countries showed that in the Arab nations of Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, confidence in Obama ranged from 23 percent in Jordan to one in three in Lebanon. About a quarter felt similarly about McCain.

A March 2008 Zogby poll of 4,000 people in Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Jordan found that Arab opinion of the U.S. was at its lowest since 2002, with unfavorable ratings ranging from 80 percent in Egypt and Jordan to 71 percent in the UAE and Morocco.

McCain's Stands

McCain supported the invasion of Iraq and Bush's decision to pour more troops into the country last year. McCain this month demanded tougher sanctions on Iran, a Shiite Muslim theocracy that's not an Arab nation, and passed on a chance to meet Palestinians during a brief visit to Israel in March, according to the Washington Times and CBS News.

Obama has opposed the Iraq war from the start, and he said in February said he wants to ``end the mindset'' that led to it. He also has expressed his commitment to Israel's security and recently drafted legislation calling for the economic isolation of Iran. Both Obama and McCain back moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Enthusiasm for Obama among Arabs has waned since his victory in the primaries over New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who conceded and endorsed him June 7.

Egyptian writer Atef Ghamri highlighted Obama's ``inconsistencies'' on Jerusalem in an article for the Palestinian al-Quds newspaper. Omar Abd al-Atay, writing in the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper said it is difficult to gauge what kind of President Obama would make because he has and will change position to get the widest support.

Some Arabs are optimistic about Obama. He has the potential to support ``an old-style U.S. interest in the region that looks for stability rather than personalized and violent regime change,'' Karim Makdisi, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said in an interview.

``It is clear that if people in the Arab world could vote, they would vote for Obama, certainly to ensure McCain doesn't become president, but also because there is a faint hope that maybe he doesn't represent empty words,'' Makdisi said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Caroline Alexander in Paris at calexander1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 21, 2008 08:43 EDT