VIDEO: What’s normal in Baghdad?

It is election season in Iraq. Photo ops, shaking hands and cutting ribbons might seem like Politics 101, but in Iraq, it is a reminder of a miracle.

Tim Constantine has more:

In the United States, we take democracy for granted. It’s the only thing that every single living, natural-born American has ever known. 

Elections, campaigns, having a voice in leadership, it’s in the American DNA. Because it seems natural, almost instinctual, it’s easy to forget that many parts of the world don’t enjoy this same basic privilege. 

The Middle East is in the news almost daily and serves as an example that monarchies, dictators, and chaos are far more common there than democracy, except, of course, in Iraq. 

It’s election season there, and it’s amazing to watch it unfold. Billboards, campaign speeches, claims and counterclaims against different candidates, 

None of those things are at all out of the ordinary for a campaign unless you stop and think about this is Iraq. It was just 20 years ago that the constitution of the new Iraq, the post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, became a reality.

In the interim, the nation had to conquer terrorists, root out corruption, and rebuild much of itself from scratch. 

I watched Prime Minister al-Sudani celebrate the grand opening of a refurbished Al-Rashid Street this past week. It reminded me of what city leaders in Miami Beach, Florida, did about 30 years ago. 

In Miami Beach, they gutted the interiors of old buildings and kept the historic Art Deco facades intact. They breathed new life into an area that time had forgotten. It was wildly successful. 

Likewise, Al-Rashid Street and Baghdad is very similar. The entire area had fallen into disrepair. It wasn’t an area that you would have walked around in alone until now. 

Prime Minister al-Sudani’s government got involved and has renovated the buildings for about a quarter-mile stretch of the street. 

A newly minted area celebrates the original architecture, just like Miami Beach did, and it’s thriving with bakeries and juice shops and clothing stores. Impressively, this has all been accomplished in less than a year. 

Watching the prime minister walk the street, accepting flowers from children, talking with working men and women, taking pictures with the engineers who had made his vision of Al-Rashid street become a reality. 

All of that’s straight out of retail politics 101. Great photo ops. He’s a man of the people. 

The part that was most amazing to me, though, is knowing the recent past of Iraq. The fact that so-called normal politics is at work, that fact is totally refreshing. 

A stable, prosperous Iraq may be far away from Kansas or Idaho, but it has a huge influence on the Middle East region. And in turn, that has an impact on Americans here at home. 

A political campaign out amongst the people might seem like the most basic thing in the United States, but in Baghdad, Iraq, it’s a welcome sign of strength and stability.