BOOKWORM: The Egypt crisis; or, the Community Activist and foreign policy.

I was going to open this post with a snarky line about whether anybody with even marginal intelligence expected a 40-something community activist to have the necessary chops to deal with an international crisis of the type currently unfolding in Egypt. Indeed, I think I still will: Does anybody with an IQ over the single digits seriously believe that a former community activist and part-time legal lecturer has the skills and knowledge to handle the revolutionary disarray unfolding on Egypt’s streets right now? No. I didn’t think so.

Snark out of the way, I want to talk about something more profound than mere inexperience — and that’s Obama’s instinctive distrust of individual freedom. His two years in office have shown us that, given the choice, Obama will invariably bow to whatever, or whomever, controls the government faction in a given country.

This is a tough problem, but nothing Obama has done so far has inspired any confidence.

UPDATE: On the other hand, what to make of this report? America’s secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising: “The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning ‘regime change’ for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned.” If this is true, I certainly hope we backed the right guys this time . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Mark Hunn writes: “Glenn, why would we expect anything but feckless ineptitude from an administration still pursuing a war its foreign policy team believes we were duped into by the dumbest president in modern times?” Heh. Well, when you put it that way . . . .

MORE: And reader Bob Poynor writes: “Among all your coverage of the events in Egypt, don’t forget that Egypt operates the Suez Canal. A LOT of commerce goes through there, as well as a lot of supplies to our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Isn’t there a food crunch right now? How much oil goes through there? If a radical group manages to shut it down in a show of strength, even for only a few days, I’d expect a large ripple effect beyond than the mere act of closure.”

And reader Mike Puckett emails: “Didn’t Hillary once say something about a call at three AM? I think that call is coming in now.”