Reblogged from American Infidels:

quoted extensively from a MEMRI analysis of the Egyptian referendum on the new constitution because it shows so vividly how politics work in the Arabic-speaking world today, especially when voting is involved.

First, the analysis presents the pro-constitution camp that is the Islamists. They coordinate their efforts and launched:

“A massive joint campaign aimed at persuading the public to endorse the constitution.

Read more… 458 more words

Barry Rubin is the most perceptive writer whose articles I have read on Middle Eastern affairs and this article should be read by all who are interested. However, it occurred to me that this article in particular has broader application. Democrats have done about as well as Islamists in promoting their goals, in many of the same ways. They engaged in

A massive joint campaign aimed at persuading the public to endorse the constitution. This campaign includes holding conferences and symposia across Egypt; training thousands of Muslim Brotherhood activists to promote the constitution, some of whom are even going door to door, according to reports; and also recruiting mosque preachers and satellite channels in the efforts to persuade the public. Especially prominent in this campaign are the attempts to appeal to the average citizen and to impress upon him the economic and social advantages of supporting the constitution.

It also occurred that the Republicans and conservatives have done about as poorly as those who oppose the Islamists, again in many of the same ways.

In contrast to the unified pro-constitution camp, the opposition organizations that oppose the constitution, headed by the National Salvation Front, have been inconsistent and uncertain, especially in deciding whether to boycott the referendum altogether or to merely urge the citizens to vote against the constitution. Only on December 12, three days before the start of the referendum, did the National Salvation Front officially declare that it would participate in the referendum (on certain conditions) and vote `no.’ The oppositionists’ efforts to persuade the public mainly took the form of online campaigns on social networks, as well as flyers and pamphlets distributed in the streets.

Perhaps the Islamist/moderate and Democrat/Republican-conservative differences have to with the differences between herding cats and cows, but I don't think so. They probably have more to do with failures to get acts together, and that is remediable.