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ElBaradei: From Multilateral Bureaucrat to Populist Patriot
(Foreign Policy) Colum Lynch - Former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei's sudden emergence as a national consensus figure has caught many international observers by surprise. Marc Lynch, an associate professor at George Washington University who was briefed by White House officials, said ElBaradei is "extremely well placed to reassure all constituencies which need reassuring that he is not likely to stick around forever and be the next Mubarak." ElBaradei is a virtual political unknown inside Egypt. Observers say his political performance in recent weeks, while generating widespread attention from international media, did little to secure a grassroots following, though his standing was boosted when the regime briefly placed him under house arrest last week. "There was not a lot of excitement when he showed up," says Michael Wahid Hanna, an expert on Egypt at the Century Foundation. "He's not a populist leader; he's not charismatic."