El-Sayed and the limits of Arab expectations

The Arab argument over Abdul El-Sayed’s election to the US Senate says as much about our expectations as it does about his victory. Some have celebrated as though an Arab government had gained a seat in Washington. Others have treated any expression of pride as proof of political ignorance. Between the enthusiasm and the ridicule, there has been too little scrutiny of what he actually stands for.

A politician’s ancestry is an unreliable guide to the policies he will pursue. Yet much of this debate has proceeded as though an Egyptian name were a foreign policy commitment, waiting only for its owner to take office.