Don't Sweat Egypt, We've Got Jesus On It

Reuters can't help from wistfully revisiting 2008, picturing Obama with a golden halo.

"And to that effect, I hereby propose to the General Secretary a series of plagues for Egypt,
beginning, as your briefing materials show, with frogs...

Absolutely shameless.

Gibbs, meanwhile, clarified that Obama did in fact intend to demand that Mubarak begin the process of transferring power now...

Last night, Obama issued a brief public statement that included just one line about a prospective deadline for Mubarak's exit from power: "My belief is that an orderly transition must be meaningful, must be peaceful and it must begin now," Obama said.

But White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was more explicit Wednesday.

"'Now' means 'yesterday,'" Gibbs explained. "When we said 'now,' we meant 'yesterday'... that's what the people of Egypt want to see," Gibbs said, adding that a process that begins one week, one month, or many months from now won't suffice.

This is the sort of statement that makes sense if you are 100% certain the dictator is on his way out and want to get in good with the incoming, inevitable new regime.

But how can they be that certain?

At HotAir, reports that plainsclothes secret police bully boys are breaking heads, and in some cases, that seems to mean army officers pretending to be "pro-stability" civilians.

There is a pretty good chance that the army winds up siding with Mubarak and crushing the resistance, and then Mubarak installs a puppet replacement as president. That may not be the most likely scenario but I can't see how it's not a plausible one.

What's Obama going to say to Mubarak if that should come to pass?

I guess I have a different take than Drew... I'm having trouble understanding why this guy supported Ahmedinejad throughout the Iranian uprising (oh, after the regime murdered some young girls, they did bother themselves to urge "restraint") but now is so forward-leaning on Egypt.

It seems like he's trying to contrive a foreign policy public relations "win" he can take to the American people in 2012. So he can say, "Hey, I was the guy who called for Mubarak to be deposed when it was clear he would probably be deposed, you're welcome," and we're supposed to be grateful.

But it's not as if we were all super-invested in seeing Mubarak deposed.

posted by Ace at 05:59 PM

| Access Comments