Obama Wiping the Slate Clean

If, behind its regularly changing positions on the Egyptian uprising, the Obama administration hoped to win the affection of the demonstrators in Tahrir Sqaure and the people applauding them in the Arab streets and on satellite television screens, then it has indisputably failed to achieve this goal. The young Egyptian demonstrators truly believe in democracy and demand an end to corruption and bad governance, but it’s clear that their supporters and the “revolutionary” television presenters aren’t concerned with pro-democracy and pro-freedom slogans, which the Obama administration says were what prompted its decisions and calls for reforms of the Egyptian government. The last concern of these people is the preservation of democracy and freedoms, because, had they been granted access to power in Egypt and other countries, these values would be the first victims of their rule.

The best evidence of this is what those people have done where they govern today. The Obama administration would do well to learn from those nations that have mastered the art of defending their regimes from the uprising in Egypt, or the path taken by those regimes’ allies in the Arab world, who came to power by coup, resulting in a contempt for democratic operations. This is what happened with the establishment of the Iraqi government, and with the recent so-called “constitutional” coup of the Lebanese government, which was accomplished by strengthening the state, its parties, and its institutions. It’s important for the Obama administration to oppose all this, so as to benefit when it draws up a wiser policy toward the current crisis in Egypt.

It’s naïve for the American administration to think that its positive position toward the ongoing uprising in Egypt will help improve its image in the Arab world. Those observing what is happening in Egypt don’t separate the outcome of this position from the ongoing confrontation in the region. And if it’s true that those suppressing the Egyptian uprising are within the country, it’s also true that the benefits of future change to the leadership of the regime will remain dependent on the outcome, which will be revealed by the ongoing confrontation in Egypt between the apparatus of the regime and the opposition, which is still very ambiguous at this stage.

It is also naïve for the American administration to attempt to deal with the youth uprising in Egypt like George Bush Sr. dealt with the uprisings in the dictatorial communist regimes of Eastern Europe in the early 1990s. That is, it believes that what is happening in Egypt is the start of a spread of hoped-for democracy in the Arab region. There is no democratic alternative prepared to assume power in the countries of this region, with the possible replacements either described as being totalitarian in its religious character, or as civilian in military clothes, as appears to be the direction in Egypt. Democratic culture is not the culture that the states of Eastern Europe embraced.

Also, there is a large capacity for disregarding the intelligence and memory of the Arab street, as when the Obama administration attempted, with very selective lies, to defend human rights in Arab states at the same time that it was protecting the excessive violations of the rights of the Palestinian people — all the while pleading its inability to enforce the requirements of international law as they apply to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The disregard for the intelligence of the Arab street also appears in the Obama administration’s lack of resistance to preserving the “nuclear dialogue” with the Iranian regime, despite its known achievements in oppressing its opponents, from the last presidential elections until today, and its attempts to lobby other regimes by recalling ambassadors to their capitals, although these regimes are not known for respecting the principles of freedoms and human rights.

This double standard of U.S. policy raises many questions about the motives behind its position when it claims to protect the Egyptian youth uprising. The Egyptian youth do not need Washington’s support. On the contrary, its leaders have sought to distance themselves from this kind of support, because they consider it to be a political burden, with no goal other than an attempt to wipe the American slate clean in the Arab street. But all that this kind of support does is reveal the Obama administration’s policy, which ranges from naiveté to calculation, and pushes America’s friends in the region to act cautiously in respect to America’s goals and policies.