On sectarian "herd" in the Arab world

"It reflects his well-honed calculation that, given the current Arab public mood, he will do better by joining the herd rather than trying to steer or stop its momentum."  I don't think that this is an accurate reading and not sure that the "herd"--if we are to use that word--is more sectarian than the leaders.  If anything, the leaders of sectarian agitation and mobilization in the Arab world have been clerics, politicians, and writers in oil and gas media.  The "herd" have not been as bad.  The results of the last Pew poll show that the "herd" is in fact far from being influenced by the leaders on the lionization of the the Syrian "revolution".