Last week Barack Obama's actions were described by those on the left as “Reaganesque.” The president's latest pantomime evokes a less popular predecessor—Jimmy Carter. The Los Angeles Times reports:
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.
What could be bad about sharing power with a group whose grand vision includes a worldwide caliphate where every nation is subject to shariah law? What harm could come of conferring sovereignty on the parent organization of hamas and other terrorist cabals?
But before anyone criticizes Obama for returning to the same naïve posture he displayed during the 2008 presidential campaign, when he said he would sit down with any rogue leader without preconditions, note that this time will be different. In order for the Muslim Brotherhood to be treated as partner in peace, it has to promise to behave itself, to reject violence and recognize democratic goals, and to brush its teeth before bed.
The White House statement, the Times writes, is
an acknowledgment that any popularly accepted new government will probably include groups that are not considered friendly to U.S. interests, and was a signal that the White House is prepared for that probability after 30 years of reliable relations with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Outgoing White House spokesman Robert Gibbs explained that a reformed Egyptian government "has to include a whole host of important nonsecular actors that give Egypt a strong chance to continue to be [a] stable and reliable partner." He just didn’t explain why.
The one topic on which the White House was strangely mute was the effects this move would have on America’s relations with the one legitimate democracy in the region, Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood advocates tearing up Egypt's peace treaty with the Jewish state. Is that now the Obama administration’s position as well?
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Comments
You'd prefer to ignore reality - that they WILL be players in any post-Mubarak regime whether we like it or not?
That's the kind of thinking that helped create the mess in Iran.
Hell, obama will probably offer them a post in his cabinet
This really bearsrepeating Howard,
"Last week Barack Obama's actions were described by those on the left as “Reaganesque.” The president's latest pantomime evokes a less popular predecessor—Jimmy Carter."
Thanks, Dev.
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