**UPDATED below with White House Statement**
“There is no such thing called an Islamic democracy. There is democracy only. … The people are the source of authority,” he said. Asked about the role of women, he vowed that “women’s rights are equal to men.” And asked whether he would maintain Egypt’s 1979 accord with Israel, Morsi answered, “Yes, of course I will. I will respect it provided the other side keep it up and respect it.” – Egypt’s new president: U.S.-educated Islamist
THE ABAB SPRING has manifested the first Islamic head of state. Egypt’s people have spoken, placing a once banned political entity to leadership.
What the Egyptian military SCAF’s recent constitutional coup will mean for president-elect Mursi remains to be seen.
Egypt’s electoral commission announced Sunday that Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi would be sworn in as president, becoming the Arab world’s first elected Islamist head of state after more than a year of popular uprisings that ousted autocrats and fueled the rise of political Islam in the region.
Although Egypt’s ruling generals blunted the power of the presidency shortly after polls closed last weekend, Morsi’s victory represented a remarkable turn of fortunes. The organization was outlawed and systematically suppressed for decades, including under the three-decade regime of deposed former president Hosni Mubarak.
The earth’s tilt of the summer solstice seems to have shifted the Northern Hemisphere’s reality in more ways than seasonal.
From the Mubarak’s torture chambers has come a political revolution that also spawned terrorist cells, which will now become part of a raging debate in America about the power of freedom in the Middle East and what it means when unleashed.
We’ll have to see, but women of Egypt could be in for quite a battle.
President-elect Morsi has said previously that he supports women’s rights, but also that he wants “peace” with Israel. Unfortunately, he’s also said women are not allowed to attain the presidency, and called Israeli leaders “vampires.”
Somewhere in paradise Sayyid Qutb is celebrating.
UPDATED: Statement by the Press Secretary on Egypt:
The United States congratulates Dr. Mohamed Morsi on his victory in Egypt’s Presidential election, and we congratulate the Egyptian people for this milestone in their transition to democracy.
We look forward to working together with President-elect Morsi and the government he forms, on the basis of mutual respect, to advance the many shared interests between Egypt and the United States. We believe that it is important for President-elect Morsi to take steps at this historic time to advance national unity by reaching out to all parties and constituencies in consultations about the formation of a new government. We believe in the importance of the new Egyptian government upholding universal values, and respecting the rights of all Egyptian citizens – including women and religious minorities such as Coptic Christians. Millions of Egyptians voted in the election, and President-elect Morsi and the new Egyptian government have both the legitimacy and responsibility of representing a diverse and courageous citizenry.
The United States intends to work with all parties within Egypt to sustain our long-standing partnership as it consolidates its democracy. We commend the Presidential Election Commission and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) for their role in supporting a free and fair election, and look forward to the completion of a transition to a democratically-elected government. We believe it is essential for the Egyptian government to continue to fulfill Egypt’s role as a pillar of regional peace, security and stability. And we will stand with the Egyptian people as they pursue their aspirations for democracy, dignity, and opportunity, and fulfill the promise of their revolution.
Bin Laden’s partner in crime, Amin Zawahiri, hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood. It does not matter what the new and powerless president has to say, it is the extremists within the organization that will ultimately decide Egypt’s fate. The hatred of the brotherhood for the military cannot be overcome by negotiation, the memories of being boiled alive don’t fade that easily. When Mubarak could not beat them by torturing them, he went after their families; that alone is enough to warrant their fierce hatred of his military. That the United States continues to arm the Egyptian’s, as well as the Bahraini’s, only helps to enforce the growing anti-Americanism in the region; which faces an ugly future.
I don’t see a contradiction here. “Vampires” is one of the more polite things Israel’s current leaders could be called.
As I wrote in a comment here during the Arab Spring, the real test was going to be when or if the army would give up power in Egypt. Looks like we’re about to find out how that test went.
Golly, we seem to be all about bringing democracy and freedoms to these places until they elect someone we don’t like don’t we?
You beat me to it. We love Freedom and Democracy in this country- as buzzwords. And we weep with joy when the people we’ve “liberated” hold up purple fingers- and vote for the people we’ve sponsored and of whom we approve.
But when people dare use their new freedoms to elect people we don’t like- OH MY GOD how DARE they, what went WRONG??
Earth to the United States (and Israel, while I’m at it)- if Egyptians are truly free, they are about as interested in pleasing us with their electoral choices as we are in pleasing them with ours. I know, bizarre concept, huh?
And the idea that Egypt has “gone astray” because it had the audacity to elect the President it actually wanted, without our leave- well, the Ugly American is alive and well, clearly.
Well, amongst other things, it will be interesting to find out how well the M1 Abrams tanks we gave to Egypt compare to the latest Israeli technology.
casualobserver, Isreal also has some of the best made tanks in the world also. But I think I know what you were getting at and agree, these are trying times in the Middle East. The Muslim Brotherhood from what I have read are extremists and they want to bring back sharia law and for women and gays and christians in the country could be facing difficult lifes if the Muslim Brotherhood says what it wants to happen in Egypt. Fox News will have a field day with this. And I am sure President Obama will get the blame.
You can be sure that the chit-chat bloviators on MSNBC and Fox News will all agree that the Egyptian election is a net loss for Obama. When the Supreme Court anounces its decsision on the Affordable Care Act there will be unanimous agreement that whatever the decision it will be a net loss for Obama:
1. The entire act is struck down = Obama loss.
2. The entire act is upheld = Obama loss.
3. The individual mandate only is struck down = Obama loss.
The last week was another supposedly bad week for the Obama Adminstration. The House decision to send a contempt of Congress citation to AG Holder to the full house was supposed to be a loss for the Obama adminstration. The gay rights and executive order on immigration were also seen as net losses for the Obama adminstration. Funny thing is with all this ‘bad’ news Obama’s approval ratings on an upward trend with yesterday’s Gallup poll giving Obama his highest approval ratings (51%) since the immediate days following the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
Obama’s a[pproval ratings shows how Fox News is committed to stirring up its base. Rasmussen, Fox’s in house pollster currently shows Obama’s approval ratings at a pool low of 44%. Ramussen has been shown, by Nate Silver, to be the least accurate of all the polls taken during the 2010 election cycle with a GOP bias of at least +3. Rasmussen uses only robo-call prerecorded questions and by federal law cannot robo-call cell phone users which automaticlly eliminates larger segments of Democratic demographic groups compared to Republican demographic groups.
If you throw out Rasmussen, Obama’s poll of polls as reported by Real Clear Politics,( a conservative web site) Obama would have larger leads in pooled approval ratings and Romney – Obama head to head matchups.
Here’s yesterday’s Real Clear Poitics poll of polls in Obama approval ratings which shows how Fox uses its in house pollster (Rasmussen) to stir up its base and influence the opinionators on the cable chit chat political shows:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html
Equally interesting and on topic, which is to say, not at all.
Your right Bal’more, anything in Taylor’s posts that doesn’t contain a daily dose of Obama bashing or those who don’t prostrate themselves before the Grand Poobah of Hillary worship is always ‘off topic’.
LOL. Yet more distraction! But thank you for misreading or pretending to misread my comment.
But what I’m still looking for is your explanation for how the result of the Egyptian election was the catalyst for your citing yet another poll’s findings. Interested in how that flows logically. Thanks.
Why will the Egyptian vote be a loss for Obama? Egypt is Egypt.
As for finding out about the M1s against Israel’s tanks…..maybe Israel will have to reign in their thuggish behavior for a change.
Fox News is already pronouncing that the Egypt elections are Obama’s fault. They complain that it was his ‘Cairo’ speech that ignited the ‘Arab Spring’, as if the Arab populations weren’t already fed up with living under military and monarchy dictatorships for decades.