The announcement this week that former diplomat Abdullah Al-Ashaal might run for president in next year’s election underscored the wrongheadedness of the United States’ decision to cut funding for democracy promotion in Egypt roughly in half. I would be among the first to argue that President Bush’s democracy promotion was a disaster, and misguided from the beginning. I am not a proponent of political imperialism, and do not believe that Americanized democracy, which has had more than 200 years to evolve into its current form here, should be imposed by us on other countries. And I think that, more broadly, Bush’s actions in the Middle East did far more harm than they did good. In short, I was delighted when Obama took office and looked set to reverse so many of the previous administration’s policies. I had no idea, though, that he would do so to the region’s detriment. That however, is exactly what seems to be happening with the administration’s dramatic cut in funds for democracy promotion at the very moment it may actually have a chance. In 2005 President Bush pushed for more open elections, at a time when there was neither today’s number of capable candidates nor the necessary public engagement. The result was an election marred by accusations of vote buying, intimidation, ballot stuffing and general confusion, not to mention a lack of credible monitoring. This time around, though, the atmosphere in Egypt is markedly different, and the tendrils of self-determination trying to take hold are largely home-grown. The Obama administration is missing an unprecedented opportunity to help an organic and authentic pro-democracy movement flourish . Not only are there more viable candidates for office this time around—and I don’t only mean ElBaradei — but there is a grassroots campaign for change, one that might well be larger if not for fear of reprisals from the police and security forces. That kind of feet-on-the-ground commitment from citizens has been the precursor to every democratizing movement I can think of. I am not for a moment suggesting the United States should go in and support a specific candidate. We should, however, be pressuring the government to lift the emergency law and allow people to assemble freely and organize politically. But that alone is not enough. We should also be giving full support to human rights groups and other civil organizations that can push for that kind of change from within Egyptian society, because without them it can never happen. Rights groups in Egypt have interpreted the cuts as a sign that the Obama administration is supporting the current regime—and that’s an easy conclusion to draw. I’d like to believe that the United States couldn’t possibly be so short-sighted in its approach, but history makes that impossible. BM
