Hypocrites, Obama, and the "Will of the People"

Obama wants the government in Egypt to honor the will of the Egyptian people.

But what about the will of the people in the United States who clearly did not want Obamacare (and still don't like it)? What about the will of the people who want our troops home from Afghanistan?

While pondering such obvious hypocrisy, note that the State Department is working overtime regarding America’s Mess in Egypt.

Mr. Obama is bound by his own words, international law and the expectations of allies, such as Great Britain, not to acknowledge or support coups that overthrow duly-elected governments. For the president, it is an inconvenient truth that Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, accomplished his office through the ballot box and was as constitutionally legitimate as Obama, but for one small fact. Morsi pushed through constitutional changes that are rather favorable to the fundamentalist thinking of the Brotherhood.

Like most Americans, I have no truck with the ideas of the Brotherhood, but the mob in the streets objecting to Morsi chose methods other than ballots to remove him. Sadly for him, the Egyptian military is neither under civilian control nor primarily financed by the Egyptian government. It gets its manna from the Obama Administration via more than $1 billion annually in U.S. foreign aid.

The State Department is now indicating [the coup] may not be a coup, because the generals have not imposed a military leader. That question has the legal minds at the State Department working overtime.

The upshot, in Egypt Obama’s principal representative, Ambassador Anne Paterson, is vilified by all sides, and the Muslim Brotherhood is likely permanently disabused of the notion that participating in democratic processes can lead to its views taking hold anywhere from Syria to Yemen.

This is a mighty grand mess that will result in untold bloodshed and further reinforce anti-American views across the Middle East.

Those remarkable accomplishments notwithstanding, Americans are entitled to know: What is the U.S. policy toward overthrowing democratically elected governments? Is it unacceptable except when it gives rise to fundamentalist social and religious views the prelates within the American academy and mainstream media don’t like?

Who says America doesn’t have an insular aristocracy and Ayatollahs of its own.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com