I drove around the city to gauge the hectic preparations. City workers were sweeping desert sand off the airport highway, replacing wind-torn Egyptian flags with new ones, repairing street lamps, and planting Cairo University with flowers (something that did not happen when the campus marked its centenary last year).

In the Khan al Khalili bazaar, freshly minted Obama merchandise was on display. King Tut's image, copied from the famous golden mask discovered by Howard Carter, is on nearly everything in the tourist bazaar, from shisha pipes to ashtrays to beach towels and coffee mugs. But I found the "Obama New Tutankhamon of the World" slogan (left, on a T-shirt) a little troubling. Yes, like King Tut, who became pharaoh at the age of ten, Obama is a youthful leader of a world power. But, remember, Tut left office--and this world--prematurely, dying 3,000 years ago under mysterious circumstances around the age of 19. A hole discovered at the base of his skull has led some forensic anthropologists to speculate that he was assassinated.

I wondered, could the Obama/Tut souvenirs contain a not-so-subtle warning to the American president? A warning that says, "You may be young and powerful, but you--or at least your honeymoon with the Islamic world--will be in big trouble if you fail to live up to your promises."

When I asked 25-year-old shopkeeper Hamada Hagar, proprietor of the Welcome souvenir shop, about the meaning of the T-shirt, he merely shrugged. "NBC ordered it," he said, referring to the American television network. "My sister works for them. CNN ordered ceramic plates with Obama's picture on it and 30 cartouches with 'Obama' written in hieroglyphics.

"You want one? I can have it ready from the factory around the corner in 30 minutes."

Leave it to the world's press--the Ministry of Information had 850 reporters on its Obama trip accreditation list as of last Sunday--to want souvenirs from their lightning trip to the "heart of civilization," as Egypt likes to call itself. (When I was working in Amman during the 1990 Gulf War, Jordanian souvenir sellers made a killing off Scud missile key chains and fake Rolexes whose faces featured the mugs of Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein.)

Meanwhile, 18 million Cairenes and 80 million Egyptians, more than half of whom are under 25, have great expectations of Obama, who since his election has pledged new momentum for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, better understanding between America and Muslims, and a better example within the United States of the democratic values U.S. foreign policy tries to promote worldwide.

Already 60 percent of Egyptians approve of Obama, and their generally negative views toward America are falling, according to a Brookings Institute poll of Arab opinion released on May 19. But whatever Obama says in Cairo this Thursday, Egyptians are waiting--some more patiently than others--to see words matched by actual deeds.

In the meantime, I'll keep you posted about whether those Obama T-shirts have legs.