- Events abroad happen quickly, in cause-and-effect timelines that correspond neatly to U.S. Presidential policies and tenures;- The U.S. has the power to shape events abroad; the exercise of that power is simply a function of U.S. willpower and determination, usually in the form of military action; and- America's agreeing to talk to foreign leaders = commiseration with those same foreign leaders = a "man crush."
Next, I don't want to compare Egypt to America, but... let me compare today's Egypt to America. The American Revolution took 8 years. It was a country of about 2.5 million, not counting slaves and Indians, a majority of which was loyal to King George throughout. After that we had the destined-to-fail Articles of Confederation that lasted 8 years before being replaced by the U.S. Constitution. It could be argued that many disputes left unsettled by the Federalists and Anti-Federalists festered and resulted in the American Civil War 72 years later. That civil war was followed by Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and eventually the Civil Rights movement, culminating in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, adopted 188 years after the Declaration of Independence.
And that all started in a podunk colony on the ass-end of nowhere in the 18th century. Compare that to today's Egypt, the most populated Arab country in the world with 84 million people. What Lowry and other conservative pundits are doing is expressing disappointment with Egypt's failure to transition smoothly and non-violently in the span of 2 years from a brutal dictatorship of 30 years to a simulacrum of U.S. republican democracy that was perfected over some 200 years.
So let me make obvious the absurdity of the criticism laid at President Obama's feet: that in a mere two years since Mubarak was forced to step down during peaceful protests, the failure of Egypt to transform itself into a peaceful, multi-ethnic, multi-confessional state with tolerance and free speech for all, represents a FAILURE of PRESIDENT OBAMA. Meanwhile, in fact, liberals and non-Muslims in Egypt have been withdrawing from the constitutional convention in protest of the mangled process of its drafting and approval by referendum. Still, it's Obama's fault that things aren't turning out ideally, now, immediately.
Folks, it doesn't get any more partisan, Amero-centric and short-sighted than this... and all from the editor of the most "intellectual" conservative media outlet around. So you can imagine what dumber conservatives are saying about U.S. policy vis-a-vis Egypt. It's completely unmoored from reality.
America needs a huge dose of humility, chased with a swig of its own long and tortured history for study. Hell, I don't know how things are going to turn out there. But I sure as hell know that we Americans can't determine the outcome. That fact may drive many neo-cons and pundits nuts to the point of denial, but that's just the way it is.
Morsi consolidates his dictatorship while the Obama administration tells itself bedtime stories.
By Rich Lowry
November 30, 2012 | National Review
