In The New York Times interview with Egypt’s new president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, there’s this interesting paragraph:
[Morsi] initially sought to meet with President Obama at the White House during his visit this week, but he received a cool reception, aides to both presidents said. Mindful of the complicated election-year politics of a visit with Egypt’s Islamist leader, Mr. Morsi dropped his request.
Why interesting? There had previously been some uncertainty about whether Obama would meet with Morsi during his visit to the U.S. for the opening of he U.N. General Assembly.
The Daily Caller traces the evolution of statements from the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, on the issue, from initially suggesting in July that he expected the two presidents to meet, to more recently suggesting that there is no such meeting scheduled. (Whereas The Daily Caller suggests a meeting between the two was canceled, I would note that it appears that such a meeting may never have been scheduled.)
Back in August, I noted that Morsi’s visit could be a political headache for Obama. Earlier this month, a conservative group ran an ad hitting President Obama for not taking a tougher line with the Muslim Brotherhood.
