Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s high profile visit to Egypt was supposed to be a major opportunity to both reconcile with the Egyptian public and to help negotiate some sort of settlement between the junta and President Mursi, setting a precedent for a US role in post-Mubarak Egypt.

It didn’t work out that way. Clinton’s secret talks with Field Marshall Tantawi apparently fell flat, as the junta leader appeared to be taking an even more hostile line toward settling things with Mursi’s FJP, saying he would never allow any one party to dominate the political landscape.

Even the photo-op portion of the visit didn’t work out. Visiting Alexandria to reopen the US Consulate, protesters heckled Clinton, threw tomatoes and shoes at her motorcade, and hit an Egyptian official in the face with one of the tomatoes.

Top Christian groups that were supposed to meet with Clinton later in the evening in Cairo just didn’t show up, saying that they believed the Obama Administration was biased against secular blocs in Egypt and had been backing Islamists at the expense of Egypt’s Christian minority.