"Be my guest", says Obama to Egyptian Islamist leader

William "Montgomery" Burns, Deputy Secretary of State of the US of A, had a little facetime yesterday with Mohamed Mursi, newly (and democratically) elected president of Egypt. At the news conference which followed, Mr. Burns made the usual motherhood-and-apple-pie statements about improving relations with America's longtime friend, yada yada yada. No news there.

But hold on. Reuters reports that Burns omitted a small detail of his interview with the new leader. We are indebted to one of Mursi's aides, Yasser Ali, for letting us know that during their little talk, Mr. Burns conveyed to Mr. Mursi a personal invitation from none other than Barack Hussein Obama to visit the United States in September.

"Yes sir," said Yasser, "Washington is cultivating stronger ties with the Islamists. Yes sir..." Until recently the folks at Foggy Bottom had been wary of Islamists. And of course the USA was a strong supporter of former president Hosni Mubarak. But with the election of a (purported) American president, who may himself be a Muslim, the wind has shifted, and now the Islamists are America's friends. Right?

None more so than the Muslim Brotherhood, the group behind Mursi's win. Mursi formally resigned from the group when he won the presidency. Whether Obama is still a member is unknown.

So Mursi is coming in September, when he'll be in the neighbourhood to address the General Assembly of the Useless Nations. That an election campaign will be in full swing at that time is just a coincidence. Don't let his visit influence your vote.