INCLUSIVE. He was elected because a lot of conservative religious assholes want to go back to the days where women were not seen nor heard. If he's lucky, he'll be able to assuage the very fearful (and rightfully so) Copts and women--who have been harassed by some of these conservative assholes in the run-up to the election with "Just you wait" type threats--and he'll need them to replace the angry conservatives who fall away from his base if he makes good on his promises.

Those wingnuts who voted for him voted for an Islamic Republic--I'm thinking this guy is looking at that billion dollar and then some check from the USA, and looking at "Islamic Republic" and thinking--I can't have both. Which do I want more? Here's hoping...

The choices were so bad that some of the votes were anti-Shafiq. It is not a good idea to smear everyone with the same brush. I follow some young Egyptians on twitter and they are borderline atheist.

Since the choice was so bad, I think this was the best result. And because there are so many disparate voices, he will try to unify them and listen to them.

And as for his power - the Egyptians have gotten used to being very vocal. The youngsters will not put up with problems - hopefully.

I can also safely bet that he didn't get many if any Coptic votes.

There's another entity in all this--still, and that's the Army. They are a thing unto themselves, even though one of theirs isn't holding the Presidency. They aren't quite doing the "Ataturk" thing, but they're playing that kind of game. It's OK from their POV when they say so, and if they can or will deal with it.

We'll see.

themselves that he has a Rope-a-Dope "Master Plan" working (and of course "All we be revealed&quot to keep getting money from "Shatan Amrika" in order to continue the funding of military, security and other aid programs, whilst planning, covertly, to drive the Jews into the sea.

The Brethren (those wingnuts I was talking about) did not vote for him to see this happening. If he carries on as he has discussed with Amanpour, et.al., his base is going to be annoyed.

This would be like Dubya getting sworn in and fully funding federal stem cell research, creating a universal health care plan for all, and establishing a federal low-cost college loan and subsidy program for young people. It's not what his "base" signed up for, is all I am saying.

However, I think most Egyptians are happy to have this whole process over.

He said he was going to "resign" from MB and its party-front if he won the election. This was the plan from the start. He is styling himself as representing a national, multiparty front. I'm sure that he's still subject to party discipline and decision making authority.

MB is employing smart tactical politics with this talk about women and religious minorities. It reminds me of the early Islamic republic in Iran. Iran has reserved parliamentary seats for Jews and Christians, for instance. It doesn't mean, of course, that there is equality between faiths in Iran. I also do not believe that Morsi wants equality of faiths under the Egyptian state. But that is what the people of Egypt have voted for, and I wish them well.

engineering from the University of Southern California and taught at Cal State Northridge. He has children who were born in the US and are American citizens. I am pleased to hear that he is at least announcing his intention to be inclusive and not to be establishing an Islamic state. We shall see what happens, but so far this sounds pretty promising.

I'm happy he's saying this stuff too. We'll see if he means it. It would be a remarkable turnabout if so.

I remember back in Iran in 79, women from the University of Teheran were marching in the streets, leaping for joy, thinking the overthrow of the Shah was going to mean that equality for women would be fast-tracked. Those same women, as they put on their chadors to go do the grocery shopping today, are longing for the days when the Shah was top dog and they could go to the shops in street clothes, have a glass of wine with dinner, and go to the swimming pool with their dates without being set upon by a Morality Cop.

Like any politician (especialy any politician from a religion based political party) I take what he says with a grain of salt, but hope he can be someone who will buck the trend and actually work towards a positive outcome for the majority of people and not just men of his religious persuasion.

Of course, the military still holds all the real power at this point, so it may not matter what his intentions are. Hopefully, the military leaders have some sense and lose interest in trying to run a country.

then that could be said.

doesn't know his country's history better. Several times women were pharaohs - Hatshepsut for example - or just plain powerful - Hetepheres, Ahmose-Nefertari, Tiye and Nefertiti spring to mind. Still kudos to President Morsi for proposing this.

Equating two periods separated by that many millenia and a double handful of territorial/governmental changes is pretty ahistorical.

it was the Morsi adviser who said "in all of Egyptian history". So, if he's the one opening up all of Egyptian history, all I can do is point out that there were several times in the past when Egyptian women were actually quite powerful. I should also point out that while technically you have a point about modern Egypt versus ancient Egypt, Egyptians are proud of their past history and pride themselves on being the heirs of that past and frequently refer to the ancient past as prologue to the present.

Valid or not, it remains a vivid aspect of the national character. It unifies the diverse religious groups, it's a touchstone of national pride, it's a recognized source of national income, and it's a way of saying to the rest of the Arab world that Egyptians have been at this shit for a LOOONG time, when the rest of you oil pumping bastards were wandering around the deserts and living in tents, with beards full of filth, looking for the odd oasis.

K & R

cool!