Marc Lynch asks American officials to stay calm:
[T]he U.S. has done very well thus far to not panic in the face of likely Muslim Brotherhood success in the [Egyptian] election, just as it has in Tunisia and Morocco. It will be harder and harder to maintain that poise over the next few weeks, as Egyptian liberals, Israel, and many in the U.S. begin to freak out. But it's important that it keep its cool, accepting the results of a free and fair election while also voicing its own clear expectations about the importance of the Islamist forces demonstrating their commitment to democratic rules, cooperation and tolerance.
I might add that those Christianists who are alarmed by democratically elected Islamists committed to democratic rules are in a vulnerable position. And the emergence of democratic Islamists in the Arab world, as well as in Turkey and Indonesia, helps explain my insistence on the term Christianism. It doesn't mean Christianists are anti-democratic or violent – let alone terrorists. It simply means that Christianists, like Islamists, want their democracy to reflect Christian values and priorities, as they understand them.
We have the equivalent of a democratic Islamist party in the US. It's called the GOP.
(Photo: An Egyptian flag is placed next to the flag of the Freedom and Justice Party at the party headquarters in Cairo on November 30, 2011. The FJP, a front for the Muslim Brotherhood, a moderate Islamist group persecuted and banned during the 30-year rule of president Hosni Mubarak, said they were leading in the preliminary results of the opening phase of Egypt's first post-revolution election after two days of peaceful polling that won international plaudits. By Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images)
The Dish 