Bye Bye Morsi

Egypt is no Tunisia and Mohamed Morsi is no George Washington. His ouster by the military -- an orderly coup -- is surprising. Not so much that the military would make such a move, but that the Muslim Brotherhood would make such a gross miscalculation. I had assumed that they knew their own strength on the ground better than outside observers. After all, their march to power has been shrewd at every turn, but once in the hot seat, hubris seems to have won the day.

The day before, Morsi gave a defiant speech. He literally shook is fists in the air. Could he really be so stupid? He is not a stupid man. He has a PhD in materials science from USC and was once an assistant professor at Cal-State and head of the engineering department at one of Egypt's largest universities. But in the end, he appears to be incapable of compromise. People only respect strength, was his rationale.

It is disappointing. Morsi behaved like a monarch rather than a politician who seeks consensus and the formation of a governing coalition. The Muslim Brotherhood broke all their promises not to dominate Egypt's political space. Taking advantage of their superior organization and their legacy of righteous struggle against tyranny, they did just that. They rode roughshod over the young, liberal democrats of Tahrir Square and excluded them from the constitutional process.

Nobody can say that they didn't deserve this. But what now? Not only does a military take-over set a bad precedent for institution building, but the ship of state is now rudderless. Who can lead with any legitimacy? One can only hope that Egypt's military will act as a bulwark of stability, setting constraints on the rulers, but not interfering too much, as in Turkey's past. But there is a good chance that a scrap for power ensues, resulting in frequent changes of leadership and a lack of attention to and policy consistency for Egypt's economic troubles.