Art Always Appreciates When the Artist is Gone

President Obama--displaying the deep nuance of foreign policy he's developed since he came to Washington--said that Egypt isn't our ally. Not an enemy, mind you. But our president doesn't know how to characterize this country.

In this sensitive moment. Wow.

Our State Department emphasized that yes, Egypt is our ally.

The president's spokesman tried to mesh the conflicting statements:

"The President, in diplomatic and legal terms, was speaking correctly, that we do not have an alliance treaty with Egypt," Carney said during a press gaggle in Golden, Colorado, according to the White House press office. "'Ally' is a legal term of art. ..."

That's gonna hurt in the morning. Carney had to twist quite a lot to pretend that explanation works.

This administration has no business practicing this kind of diplomatic art. Good grief, they haven't mastered paint-by-numbers foreign policy.

They should stick to interpretive dance, or something.

UPDATE: So it depends on the meaning of the word "ally?"

Hey, maybe this is a job for that Secretary of Explaining Stuff.