I am sure that all of you out there on the internet are aware of what is going on in Egypt. A couple of other bloggers have written pieces on this subject that I felt did a good job of explaining many of the issues and a particular point made by Jonathon Bernstein over at "A Plain Blog About Politics" made a good deal of sense over how the media chooses to portray the US's role in this issue. He states:
American press and political reaction to things like this invariably overstate the American role in whatever is going on. The US of course does have a lot to do with Egypt, and it may or may not be true that American policy can influence events there, but US coverage in these situations almost always overestimates that potential influence. That's even more true about statements, as opposed to actions, by US government officials.
The rest of his post is really good and I do suggest reading it but one thing I want to make a further point on is how we have treated Obama's handling of this situation. This is one of those situations where being brutally honest on the matter would be disastrous, even though I think it's probably the best way of handling the situation. The brutally honest answer is that Obama and his State Department probably think democracy is good and would genuinely like it if people everywhere were free to determine their governments but also have to be sang froid about the situation in that they want someone in power who will most likely aid their foreign goals.
Could a democratic Egypt achieve both of those things? Yes, it could and I think everyone, no matter their political stripes would prefer a free and democratic Egypt that supported our political goals (or any nation for that matter) than a dictatorial Egypt that supported our political goals. The problem is, there's no guarantee that if Egypt becomes a democracy it will support our foreign policy goals. Obama and his team have to basically keep their options open and be ready to handle whatever comes out of this, and until something comes out of this, they should keep their cards close to the chest. Ideally, while Robert Gibbs comes out and hews, hems, and haws; Hillary Clinton and the rest of the State Department are secretly working behind the scenes making connections with all potential winners of this power struggle in Egypt whether it's Mubarak, ElBaradei, the Muslim Brotherhood, or some sort of coalition. In the meantime I think Obama should come out and say the same things he's been saying, all people yearn to be free and deserve to have their voices heard, violence should not be used, etc. etc. Publicly announcing a cut in aid that goes to the Egyptian military might be a good symbolic gesture that I have not heard. Some of these actions appear to already be happening as the Washington Post has reported that there is a shift in US government attitudes towards the Muslim Brotherhood.
The main thing I have been noticing with all the reporting I have read on the Egypt situation is the degree to which Republicans are going bat shit insane over this issue. Whether for or against, and most of it is against the demonstrations. There is constant comparison to the Iranian Uprising, that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization that is the equivalent of Al-Qaeda, that people over there need a "firmer" hand. One would think that they would be crowing with delight, constantly touting the correctness of the Bush Doctrine in that since Iraq has become a democracy, it's blooming everywhere in the Arab world. Wasn't that the point?
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