day of dejection for Egypt’s Revolutionaries

“I’m dejected, I want to leave the country,” Amer El-Wakil, senior coordinator of the Egyptian Revolutionary Alliance, told Ahram’s Arabic-language portal in a phone interview before bursting into tears.

Other than sheer laments, the talk among the Revolutionaries seems to be that it was foolish for both Sabbahi and Aboul Fotouh to run, thereby splitting the anti-Islamist/anti-Mubarak vote and allowing an Islamist and a Mubarakite to advance to the runoff. (There may be a little bit of “Monday morning quarterbacking” here, however, since no one was expecting Sabbahi to do this well at all, while Aboul Fotouh looked like a rainbow coalition juggernaut up until the eve of the election. Also, I’m afraid I’m not too crazy about Sabbahi, because I think he panders too much to the uglier side of the anti-Western strain in Arab culture.)

I must say, I’m feeling a bit dejected as well.