- "Which brings us to the question of what the United States should do. The Administration seems to have struggled to find its footing so far. Secretary of State Clinton asserted on January 25 that “the Egyptian government is stable,” and Vice President Biden assessed three days later that it was not time for Mubarak to step aside, adding that “I would not refer to him as a dictator.” The Administration has veered from calling for an “orderly transition” in Egypt to a “national dialogue” between government and protesters to resolve “legitimate grievances.” On Sunday, Clinton stated on CNN that “we do not want to send any message about backing forward or backing back. . . . We’re not advocating any specific outcome.” Well, that clears things up."
Do we support a dictator? Do we let Egypt become another Muslin fundamentalist country? Where has your personal magnetism and charisma gone, Mr. BO?
But, in my opinion, this is also not a good time to put much stock in what Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh say. They were hysterical yesterday. Beck is just out of his element--totally unprepared for this emergency, and Rush who has a better grasp of history and the world just hates Obama too much to find any rational thing to say. So in the words of Beck, "Do your own research." And pray for the Egyptian people.
The Right Side of History | The Middle East
Update: I have no idea who Mark Levine is, but he's getting play in AlJezerra and Huffington Post. Mark Levine: Obama: Say the D-Word
"It's incredible, really. Cairo is burning and the President of the United States can't bring himself to talk about democracy in Egypt, or the Middle East more broadly. He can dance around it, use euphemisms, throw out words like "freedom" and "tolerance" and "non-violent" and especially "reform," but he can't say the one word that really matters: Democracy."
Now listening to Mubarak who says he wasn't interested in being a dictator, but doesn't want to abandon his responsibilities. Hmmm. A little late to the gate.
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5 comments:
Murray sez:
If the MSM was doing their job the Obama administration would be toast by now. But I'm afraid we need Bush back into the Presidency before they would consider any investigative reporting of the administration.
I don't know, Mur. Our government's coziness with Mubarak goes way back.
I believe the administration's position is clear enough. The Egyptians need to handle this themselves. And the US should butt out, but keep an active eye on what is happening there. The last thing we want there is another Islamic fundamentalist regime, as long as there is no overt leaning in that direction let what happens happen. I believe the US (Obama administration)is handling it just fine.
Beck and Rush as experts?????? HA HA HA HO HO HO,,, Besides, Rush doesn't like foreign people after his remarks regarding the President of China.
The problem is that Muslim societies only respond well to a Strong Man government. Tribal and sectarian differences tend to tear Islamic societies apart, absent a Strong Man rule. The only nominally Islamic country that manages a divergence from this rule, as far as I know, is Turkey, but Kemal Attaturk set the army up as the Strong Man to intervene in times of crisis, and it's worked that way pretty well, within the limits of workability and for values of "work well" that include a lot of things that Western societies have eschewed for a couple of hundred years, for the most part.
Anon 12:37: I didn't say they were experts--nice strawman--but just who in that vast Obama kingdom are you recommending?
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