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Barack Obama’s Egypt Failure: He’s Becoming Carter Faster Than Carter Became Carter

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  February 2nd, 2011 at 10:39 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Barack Obama’s failure in Egypt has nothing to do with Egypt itself descending to chaos. No American administration has been willing to call Hosni Mubarak a dictator, which he is. And no administration has sought to strong arm Mubarak into a succession plan devoid of kleptocratic relatives.

We cannot blame Barack Obama for Egypt collapsing in on itself.

We can however blame Barack Obama for failing to mitigate and control the impact of the collapse.

Like when a demolition team sets about bringing down a crumbling building — and we now know Obama collaborated to help bring down Egypt — the demolition team must make sure the building, as it implodes, does not throw debris and carnage all over the place. If that happens, the demolition team is liable.

Barack Obama is liable, given this:

The Obama administration said for the first time that it supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government.

The organization must reject violence and recognize democratic goals if the U.S. is to be comfortable with it taking part in the government, the White House said.

Note that by saying the Muslim Brotherhood “must reject violence and recognize democratic goals”, the White House is presupposing that the Muslim Brotherhood accepts violence and does not recognize democratic goals.

Notwithstanding that, the White House is perfectly happy to give them a seat at the table.

It’s 1979 all over again. I hope the Embassy has been fully evacuated.

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  • http://www.FranBaker.com frankieb

    It still stuns me that this *BOzo was elected. The only hope I have for the future is a strong Republican candidate who will ask Reagan’s question again: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

    *BOzo is Obama’s nickname around here … better than the other names we thought of!

  • fpete13527

    Obama’s inaction and idiotic non-action rivals the quality level of Code Pink and worse.

    Obama has already gone far past the level of Carter in incompetency.
    Obama makes Jimmy Carter look like Ronald Ragan in comparison.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/bdpaasch Brian Paasch

    embassy under Carter, I hope our embassy people have a really good “run and hide” plan in place. Carter treated our folk like sacrificial lambs, didn’t give a rip. Can’t imagine Obama being any better.

  • izoneguy

    I see many shortages on the horizon. I mean for like weeks & months at a time.
    All you people in the north going through the blizzards…
    Just imagine if you did not have reliable power. That is coming too.
    Obama will not be able to save everyone when the north turns into Antartica.
    Obama will just wing his way on down to Hawaii.

  • blooch

    infesting our Egypt embassy. They’ve already shredded the shredders and sent the sensitive documents to Wikileaks. As soon as the Halal buffet is ready, they’re going to throw open the gates and invite the adoring crowd in for lunch. Anderson Cooper won’t be attending, for some reason.

    Zahi Hawass for President, if it’ll get him off the Discovery Channel.

  • SoulEspresso

    In that sense I agree with EE.

    Trouble is, I’m not sure anyone actually knows what’s coming next. Over the last few days I’ve seen a lot of abject fear on the right that Egypt will turn into a Sunni version of Iran but not a lot of evidence for why beyond, “The Muslim Brotherhood is present there.” The MB and al Qaeda are enemies; it doesn’t follow that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” but what I’ve been reading is that the MB in Egypt isn’t necessarily the same as MB in Jordan and Israel, and even if they were they don’t automatically have a lot of popular support.

    The Muslim world is a young world, and given their exposure to free societies via satellite TV and the Internet, I doubt they’d be able to stomach a theocracy much better than Western young people.

    Drudge linked this symposium analyzing the situation. A few takeaway quotes.

    Francis Fukayama is concerned that only the organized will win, which is bad news for us:

    At present, the best-organized forces in Egypt are the military and the Muslim Brotherhood. Egyptians who want a free and democratic future had better get busy organizing themselves if those groups are not to inherit the future.

    Ryan Crocker, former ambassador to Pakistan and Iraq under Bush, believes

    As was clear then, Islamic Jihad and the Muslim Brotherhood are enemies, not partners. The Brotherhood can be accommodated in the political system. But al Qaeda and Islamic Jihad would like nothing better than to regain a foothold in Egypt, the largest Arab country, and destroy that system. That must not happen.

    Maajid Nawaz, former member of Muslim Brotherhood:

    The Brotherhood realizes that this uprising wasn’t theirs to begin with, and that the new Egypt?more patriotic, pluralistic and inclusive?would likely reject a Brotherhood attempt at usurpation. Unlike Amr Moussa (the head of the Arab League), Mohamed ElBaradei (the former international bureaucrat), and Ayman Nour (the liberal party leader and another former cellmate of mine), no one in the Brotherhood possesses the stature to unite the nation behind them. There is no Khomeini-like Islamist figure to hijack this revolution.

    The last writer believes the choice is between a violent revolution (which the news today suggests) and/or continued repression in order to protect Egypt’s middle class.

    I don’t know. Not sure anyone does.

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    It may be that at the end of the day a different military strongman runs Egypt. The military that runs the country now probably doesn’t enjoy the thought of a theocracy stealing everything that they’ve been looting for the last three decades… the protesters will likely be attritioned into insignificance barring a massive uprising to assist them.

    But then again who knows how things will go in the next few days or weeks. I have a feeling that nothing the O does or says will impact what happens though, at least not positively…

  • davidleigh

    You have a deer in headlights. Can you imagine Obama having the guts to tackle Irag and Afghanistan? The surge would not have happened. He simply hasn’t the manly character to make such a decision. We would have failed and the mid-east would be far worse than it is today. It would have been a domino effect most likely.

    I am so distressed I actually have friends–just as your readers do–that voted for this guy. How delightful. The whole WH is in shock. I wager there are WH advisors clammering in their offices in the West Wing saying…”what do we do…how do we handle this….!!!???” with regard to Egypt. What shou;d we expect when you elect people to office whose minds were never fully developed, hence the reason we have liberalism today.

  • http://www.scragged.com petrarch

    Seriously. I have no idea. Side with the people of Egypt against the dictator, and turn them over to the mad mullahs? Or side with the dictator against the (Islamist) people, which is more or less what Reagan actually did though in a rather different time?

  • Old_Dominion

    But it sure seems that our diplomacy these days consists of asking leaders to “do more” and issuing strongly worded letters. Not exactly “Profiles in Courage”…

  • elizabeth bennet

    It?s 1979 all over again. I hope the Embassy has been fully evacuated.

    I swear, I thought exactly the same thing this morning. :heavysigh:

  • Common_Cents

    Seeing how they handled a similar situation in hollyweird fantasyland.

  • Common_Cents

    No joke. They’ll take several months to reach no conclusion. Then they’ll create an Egypt czar and a whole new federal agency.

    If we got nailed with a nuke I think the Obama admin would launch a new investigation panel to study the problem.

  • http://www.FranBaker.com frankieb

    Tell that to the Iranian young people who were stabbed in the back by BOzo and his hacks and still live under a terrible, smothering theocracy.

  • SoulEspresso

    Obama should have spoken up to encourage the young people of Iran; the mullahs were saying we were behind it anyway, even though it was a lie (in that case).

    Beyond speaking up, what could he have done? We might have supported action helping the revolution, but the rest of the country probably would not have.

  • SoulEspresso

    Egyptians themselves don’t know what they believe or want from a government.

    h/t linkiest.com

  • libertyatstake

    Faster, neater, more articulate, tan, ready, and rested.

    Twice as disastrous.

    http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
    “Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive”

  • sdsundevil

    Expand government by creating new bureaucracies – check.
    Inability to connect with American people – check.
    Nobel Peace Prize – check.

    And now this.

  • lisbeth

    “the White House is perfectly happy to give them a seat at the table.”

    I’d like to know how Obama or anyone else can tell Egypt who will have a seat at the table. It’s their country and their revolution.

  • bobmontgomery

    We really don’t need them. We can replace them with …..solar reserves and ……wind…..reserves.

  • concap

    Good one.
    Had me going.

  • izoneguy

    Judge Holds Interior Dept. in Contempt Over Ban

    http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=12827405

  • lineholder

    system coming to life again.

    I hope they hold to both dignity and duty, because they will be facing tough tests for a while.

  • bobmontgomery

    ..Department of Justice, a lawless Department of the Interior, a lawless EPA, a lawless HHS…could be the most lawless, contempt-prone, obstruction-of-justice-prone administration in history. What I hope is that Sam Alito started writing the majority opinion in The States v. Obama, oh, about a year ago and the rough draft is about ready.

  • lineholder

    and maybe you or one of the RS regulars can help me understand this. I’m learning about the law, mostly health care law, but it’s still confusing.

    There are two types of illegal acts…one is by commission and the other is by omission. In the first, someone commits an illegal act. In the second, someone fails to abide by the law.

    If a government agency fails to enforce the law, would this be considered an illegal act of omission? If and when such acts do occur, do citizens have any recourse?

    Think about the situation with Dr. Gosnell. The state Dept of Health and the state Dept of Justice knew that multiple violations of the law existed but failed to enforce the law by pressing any criminal charges or shutting down this awful practice. Do everyday ordinary citizens have any recourse when these kinds of situations take place?

  • bobmontgomery

    until we get a lawyer here to help us, we can say that citizens always have recourses, such as petititioning their congressmen or state legislators, filing lawsuits – class action, for example. The problem is that for just ordinary people, unless you get a large group and good and connected counsel, and find a venue that is suitable, you don’t have much chance except to win elections. IN federal government, and probably in states, you have these Inspector Generals that are supposed to be watchdogs, like Gerald Walpin was out in CA and he uncovered corruption involving O’s buddy Kevin Johnson. O fired Walpin. Outrageous? Well you would think so. You remember a fellow named Nixon and the Saturday night massacre? Nixon fired two people before the third guy finally fired the guy Nixon wanted fired and the rest is history. But you had principled Republicans who told Nixon he had to go. You don’t have any principled Democrats today. None. Anywhere. It’s politics. And the judiciary is filled with life appointees who were reared in the liberal, left-wing heyday. Long, non-answer, sorry.

  • lineholder

    effort. I’ve been wondering about this, but I don’t really have anyone to ask. Our instructors avoid questions like this as if they were the bubonic plague.

  • Adjoran

    Our legacy media also told us then it was a widespread democratic movement, all segments of society, all sweetness and light and let’s build a campfire at the beach. Sure, there were plenty of regular citizen marching, but demonstrations don’t take the reins of power, well-organized people with guns and a plan do.

    Even CNN has reported a few times on the loudspeakers from the anti-government side spewing jihadist slogans and calls to martyrdom (even as they try to convince us the islamists are just regular folk and on the side of the angels). Just like in 1979, except it was ABC-CBS-NBC back then propagandizing for the overthrow of a US ally.

  • http://www.plumbbobblog.com Plumb_Bob

    What you’re talking about is called a Writ of Mandamus. It’s basically a legal writ forcing a public official to do his damned job.

    For an example, the Writ of Mandamus is the tool that attorney Leo Donofrio used in his attempt to question Obama’s fitness to be on the ballot in New Jersey in 2008. Donofrio was claiming that Obama was not a “natural born citizen” per Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution by virtue of his holding dual citizenship with the US and Great Britain (by way of Kenya, through his birth father.) His lawsuit also questioned the fitness of John McCain and Socialist Worker’s Party candidate Roger Calero. The Writ of Mandamus was directed against the Secretary of State of New Jersey, Nina Wells, and basically demanded that she do her job and properly vet the candidates on the ballot.

    Caveat — I am not an attorney, and this is not legal advice. I’m simply recounting something I learned while researching Obama’s fitness to hold office for my blog.

  • http://www.plumbbobblog.com Plumb_Bob

    This is almost not funny. I would not be surprised to discover that somebody did PRECISELY this, or at least had to suppress the temptation.

  • http://www.plumbbobblog.com Plumb_Bob

    Erick wrote:

    “and we now know Obama collaborated to help bring down Egypt”

    What, precisely, did Obama do to collaborate to help bring down Egypt, and how do we know it?

    I’m scouring the Internet looking for an explanation of this comment, and all I can find is the leftie blogs parroting Erick and calling him names for saying that.

  • dmccracken

    don’t have enough brains to know that they don’t have a clue. One thing about liberals, it is d__n the facts, full speed ahead.

  • powertothepeople

    ‘I?m scouring the Internet looking for an explanation of this comment, and all I can find is the leftie blogs parroting Erick and calling him names for saying that.”

    I do not know what proof he has or if he has none, but this statement has little to do with should he have said what he said or not.

    Three scenarios:

    A) He has proof/ the left still talks crap

    B) He has an assumption backed with sources, but no solid proof to date/ Left talks crap

    C) He just made this up/ Left talks crap

    The left is going to call him names no matter what he says, what proof he has, nor how factual what he says is. Their irate behavior should not be a discouragement to saying what he wants to say, it should encourage him knowing he has them mad.

  • powertothepeople

    response to your post below!

  • http://christopherrenner.blogspot.com Christopher Renner

    i.e., endorse the inclusion of organized, undemocratic fanatics into a hastily organized system of “democracy” which has no great support among the population.

    See China 1949, Cuba 1959, South Vietnam, Iran and Nicaragua in 1979 to find out how that worked out in the long run.

  • mspector

    Plumb Bob is correct that the vehicle for forcing a government official to do his (her) job is the Writ of Mandamus (or Writ of Mandate). But remember that even for this remedy the citizen must have “standing” — i.e., be able to show actual or real impending harm — in order to be heard. The various courts, including SCOTUS, generally do not find that an individual citizen has the requisite standing, usually on the ground that no one person can show actual direct harm due to the alleged violation.

    As for the original question, an act of omission may be the basis for criminal action. The Good Samaritan laws are an example of this (the failure to step in and act when another was injured or being attacked was not a criminal act at common law; it became criminal in some jurisdictions via statute). But again, someone actually directly injured by Gosnell would have to bring the action.

  • mspector

    The protests may arise from conditions indigenous to Egypt, but there is little doubt that the flames are fanned by militant leftist youth centered here. Why is Obama complicit in their work? The hub for their activity is an organization that maintains a website at www.movement.org. If you look under “Sponsors” on the site you will see … the United States State Department. The U.S. government does not sponsor things lightly, and has done nothing to remove the sponsorship once this became known.

    This is why almost the first thing Obama called for was to turn the internet back on so that the protestors could maintain contact with their “social networks”. These networks are the ones feeding the movement in Egypt ideas, strategies and tactics.

    As for what Obama could have done, we must first presume that he was paying attention and understood (a) that Egypt was important in maintaining stability in the region, thus benefitting Israel and (b) that reforms in Mubarak’s government were long overdue. It would not surprise me in the least to learn that Obama considers our support of Israel wrong. And he is too busy kowtowing to foreign leaders to be willing to confront them in any meaningful way.

    That said, Obama did inherit 30 years of U.S. complicity with Mubarak and his corrupt, autocratic regime. He could not reverse things overnight. But there is no evidence that he even tried, most likely because he hoped the events in Tunisia and Egypt would in fact occur, that movement.org and its allies would be able to take advantage of them, and that some form of Islamic government would ascend to power.

  • mspector

    There is some reason to believe that the military could act as a moderating force. Assuming that to be true, it would not be out of the question to support the military in a democratizing plan, with the military taking the reins from Mubarak with a planned transition to a democratic state. Obviously there are perils along that road, but there are significant short-term gains to be had. But it seems apparent that Obama prefers the unknown with Islamists in charge than he does the unknown with a pro-American army in charge.

  • mspector

    to know if the Nobel Committee would consider giving Obama his Nobel prize given his “handling” of this situation. Somehow, I think not.

  • qurys

    We don’t know who is who in Egypt. We don’t know what the millions of Egyptians want out of their government. Except for the well-prepared few who for some inane reason made their protest signs in English. Somehow I don’t trust that as speaking for the masses. But Obama is stepping forward and putting out the place cards at the table. And he is calling for a dress code….none of that extremist and anti democratic gear allowed. How Obama-like…..and at the same time how un- like that which Obama decried in 2009 in his speech in Cairo when he said “no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other”.

  • mspector

    and look at their Sponsors. Then ask what the involvement of the Obama administration actually is. The answer should be apparent.

  • mspector

    Reagan did great things, but the dynamic at that time was different. The USSR was a dying bear, essentially immobile, teetering on bankruptcy. Reagan is the one who finally tipped the scales.

    Militant Islam is very much alive, active, wealthy and aggressive. We need a President who understands Islam for what it is and who is prepared to answer it diplomatically and where necessary militarily. We can no longer afford the “luxury” of having scintillating dilettantes (assuming for the sake of discussion that Obama is not actively collaborating with the spread of Islam) in the WH.

    Remembering that the first job of the President is as Commander in Chief and given that military confrontation is inevitable, any viable candidate must be able to stand forth on this issue.

  • billybaa

    Osama and Hil-LIAR-y
    are the main ones helping to overthrow this government
    they want the Muslim Brothers to take over Egypt
    Osama(Muslim) and Hil-LIAR-y are both Communist

  • uselogic

    and for sale. At least it is now.

  • edwlstr

    is often seen smiling these days. His “arse” is out of the fire, finally. A more incompetent President has arrived on the scene. Jimmie gave away Iran, Obozo is giving away Egypt. The reprecussions will be far worse with Egypt going to the Muslim Brotherhood and whatever puppet regime they insert into power.