The Failure of Obama Foreign Policy in Egypt

I suppose the tomatoes and now-famous shoes thrown at the auto cavalcade of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she left Alexandria were only appropriate. The problem is that the stuff should have been thrown at her boss, President Obama.
Because what happened in Alexandria had little to do with Clinton herself. It was aimed at the ineffective and vague policy of the Obama presidency toward the Middle East, the Arab Spring and all things Muslim.
Of course, one could reasonably say that if the policies of President Obama are not those Hillary Clinton, then she would be better off to resign. But, that would mean that she would lose her world stage, her pre-eminence in the Obama administration, and her chances of parrying her secretaryship into the Presidency, if that’s what she wants.
But, to address the important matter of Egypt, and Egyptian-American relations -- one can simply say that they have been trashed beyond immediate repair.
It began when Obama was almost the last person on earth to give support to the Egyptians who were trying to free themselves from the Mubarak police state and to the military which was trying to protect them. It continued with no support for those potential leaders who might have saved Egypt from an Islamist political interim. It continued on to the recent silence about who would be the best president for all Egyptians.
So we now have an Egyptian president who has little regard for America, to put it mildly, and who listened politely to Secretary Clinton with no intention of doing anything to accommodate her wishes. The truth is that President Mosri has his own agenda and we do not really know what it is. Will he be what he says he will be, i.e., the president of all Egyptians. Or will he ease inch by inch into Islamist doctrine so softly that it will be too late to stop him and Egypt from becoming another Iranian type state in which minorities, women and foreigners are suspect, harassed and cast aside. We simply do not know.
Then, Secretary Clinton went on to discuss matters with Field Marshall Mohammed Tantawi, who is the senior member of the Egyptian military ruling council, and probably the only real wall that exists against the likelihood that Egypt will fall into Islamist hands.
The messages Mrs. Clinton carried from president Obama were two. To President Mosri, “assert your powers and do not let the military take over.” To Field Marshall Tantawi, “cooperate with Mosri and continue to protect all Egyptians.”
If ever there was a message more incoherent, I do not know where to find it.
Mosri simply went on about his business after his meeting with Hillary Clinton.
Field Marshall Tantawi, later in the day after his meeting with her, said that the Egyptian military will not let the country fall into the hands of those who would serve less than all of the Egyptian people.
I wrote earlier that America ought to try to do business with Mosri. But, public lecturing is out of the question. He needs to be fed controlled funds for social services and economic infrastructure that his country so sorely lacks and which he cannot provide on his own. And, with the feeding should come Kissinger-style private conversations in which each side airs its program, wish list and ideas for working together, in the absolute certitude that whatever is said will remain sacredly private.
As for Tantawi, he is the real power to be reckoned with in Egypt, and even Mosri knows it. If anyone can save the Egyptian people from the clutches of radical Islam, it is he. So, telling him to cooperate with Mosri is akin to telling Obama to cosy up to Romney.
The message from President Obama should be very private and very clear -- the United States supports his effort to preserve secular government in Egypt; it supports his efforts to be moderate in the face of growing indications that Mosri will not be moderate; it offers its military aid and advice, and even troops if need be, to keep the most important country in the Middle East from falling into Islamist hands.
Mrs. Clinton was clearly sent to Egypt with other messages, more soft and ambiguous. That is the Obama foreign policy at work, if there really is an Obama foreign policy, which I seriously doubt.