Obama Lost Egypt?

Sometimes there are things I don't think can be fairly pinned on Obama.

And then sometimes, someone suggests a way that thing can be fairly pinned on him.

Obama’s foolish policy of forcing Mubarak out of office precipitously without giving non-Islamist parties time to organize has resulted in Islamists achieving a sweeping victory in the first round of parliamentary elections. Strength by the Muslim Brotherhood was expected, but the extremely hard line Salafists had a very strong showing.

The blame-Obama line suggested by Legal Insurrection didn't occur to me. It does sound plausible. Mubarak wanted a year for an "orderly transition." It seems like such a thing would have been helpful.

From the NYT:

Islamists claimed a decisive victory on Wednesday as early election results put them on track to win a dominant majority in Egypt’s first Parliament since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, the most significant step yet in the religious movement’s rise since the start of the Arab Spring.

The party formed by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s mainstream Islamist group, appeared to have taken about 40 percent of the vote, as expected. But a big surprise was the strong showing of ultraconservative Islamists, called Salafis, many of whom see most popular entertainment as sinful and reject women’s participation in voting or public life.

Analysts in the state-run news media said early returns indicated that Salafi groups could take as much as a quarter of the vote, giving the two groups of Islamists combined control of nearly 65 percent of the parliamentary seats.

So what did we win? Obama loved posing as the Herald of the Egyptian Street during this period; did his preening advance America's interests?

Thanks to Ben.

posted by Ace at 10:47 AM

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