Obama’s Message to Whomever Will Read It

What is the meaning of U.S. President Barack Obama’s message to the temporarily appointed President Adly Mansour on the anniversary of the July 23 Revolution?

This message comes at a time of the highest American-Egyptian tension in many years — perhaps since the Camp David Accords — due to America’s cautious and bewildered stance regarding the June 30 Revolution. This is also because certain factions in the U.S. administration, including Obama himself, view what occurred in Egypt as a “military coup” overturning the legitimacy of the removed president Morsi. This message represents the first official protocol communication between Obama and the post-June 30 Egyptian presidency, and it has numerous implications, particularly since any diplomatic action, communication or correspondence by a major nation such as the U.S. is not issued at random without careful deliberation.

So does this message signify the true beginning of a theoretical and practical modification of the U.S. stance on the June Revolution and its recognition that it was a popular revolution? Has the U.S. recognized that the revolution is a reality that must be dealt with in the interest of safeguarding its strategic interests, the U.S. being a nation that acknowledges permanent interests over sentiment and friendship?

Apparently, the U.S. has come to view the removed president as a turned page and sees that a new administration in Egypt has come in by popular demand. This [view] is in spite of America’s financial and political losses after having groomed the Brotherhood to inherit the traditional political system in the region, whether in Egypt or other Middle East nations. But the popular revolution came along to crush the hopes and illusions of Americans and non-Americans — those regional nations who hoped to redraw their political maps by taking over the Brotherhood and putting that group into power in Egypt.

President Obama’s message confirmed his country’s commitment to assisting the Egyptian people in achieving the democratic goals that they fought for in their revolution. He also stressed that the U.S. will remain a solid partner for the Egyptian people as they strive to determine their nation’s future path.

He said that this moment in time represents a great challenge and holds a promise of victory for the Egyptian people who were granted a pivotal second chance to bring about change through the path of Revolution.

Such were Obama’s words in the first official message from the U.S. to Egypt, and they carry only one meaning: Morsi and the Brotherhood are a thing of the past.