Wishing for Leadership

[Beavah]

Yah, hmmm...

 

Watchin' the Obama administration trying to deal with the events in Egypt and the middle east is really painful. It's the classic case of a whole bunch of managers who are in out of their depth when leadership is called for. The mixed signals they keep sending are goin' to cause nothing but harm.

 

I would wish that the fellow would get up and give one of his oratorial masterpieces...

 

"It is true, in a world as complex and fast-changing as this one that governments and leaders often take the easiest path. With the best of intentions, to protect our interests, to do what we think will help our people, we make compromises in small ways with our values and principles. Those small compromises can add up over the years to be come bigger compromises, and bigger, until we find after many years that we've done as much harm as good to the nation we love, or we've supported a foreign leader out of political expedience rather than supporting freedom out of principle."

 

"But make no mistake... in the United States, our government is answerable to our people, and our people stand for freedom. The people of the United States stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Egypt and all of those who yearn for peace and liberty. The blood of our martyrs who gave their lives, their fortune, and their sacred honor in the fight for freedom is one with the blood of the martyrs of the people in Egypt and Tunisia and in every land who suffer that their sons and daughters might live in Liberty's great light."

 

"Effective immediately, I am suspending all military aid to Egypt. Our people will not be party to the funding of oppression when the will of our brother citizens in Egypt is so clearly manifest. I call upon outgoing president Mubarak to listen to the true patriotism of his heart, and support the will of his people, for all of us in government service must ultimately answer to them and to God for our stewardship of a nation. I call upon the professionals in the Army of Egypt to live up to their mission to safeguard the people... the people who are their great nation. Our military professionals in the United States pledge their loyalty not to a man, not to a party, but to the Constitution that enshrines forever the supremacy of the will of the people, their right to assemble, and speak, and petition the government for redress of grievances. That is the calling of a true soldier, to serve his nation's people, to serve the cause of freedom, not to serve any individual."

 

"While we must for now suspend military assistance, the people of the United States stand ready to assist the people of Egypt. We will stand with those who strive for freedom, as many a sympathetic friend aided our young nation in its struggle for liberty. We will cheer for them, we will cry with them, and when they call for aid, we will be there. I am asking the departments of agriculture and defense to activate plans for medical and food relief, and call upon our friends and allies in the middle east and in the world to be prepared to assist the people of Egypt and the government that they establish."

 

"Until that time, our Jews, our Christians, our many Muslims and Hindus and others join the people of Egypt in prayer for a rapid, peaceful, and successful transition to true democracy."

 

Yah, well... I can dream, can't I? (This message has been edited by Beavah)

[Lisabob]

Beavah - events have overtaken us. Reports as of about 20 minutes ago are that Mubarak has resigned.

[scoutingagain]

Mubarak must have read Beavah's post.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110211/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt

 

SA

[The Blancmange]

I vote for Beavah for Secretary of State!

[WAKWIB]

I guess it could be said that the citizens of Egypt really know how to tea-party. What they accomplished wasn't just a silly pep-rally but a change you can believe in.

[eisely]

The only way I can explain the Obama administration response to the situation is Egypt is to infer that from the top down our current leadership is stunningly incompetent.

 

Having said that, it is an error to believe that somehow the US controls events in other countries. We often have a great deal of influence but the locals will do whatever they wish, often in spite of our preferences, even when we are bankrolling the whole thing. Both the hard left and hard right often exhibit this erroneous belief.

 

The main thing that the Obama administration has contributed to the Eqyptian situation is total confusion as to where the US stood with respect to the continued longevity of the Mubarak regime. The Obama administration has managed to anger both our friends and our enemies, a rare accomplishment.

 

We will have to continue to live with this situation for at least two more years. It is going to be a bumpy ride.

[NJCubScouter]

Since it appears that Mubarak has handed over authority to the military leadership, it may be that the Egyptian people are about to re-learn the lesson, "Be careful what you wish for, you may get it." It's as old as the pyramids.

[NJCubScouter]

I agree that the reaction of the administration to this crisis has been flawed. It is one thing not to know how to react to a crisis that is not really under our control. I am not convinced that any other recent president would have come up with a better answer. What is really disappointing, however, has been the multitude of conflicting opinions expressed by the various key players in the administration. You cannot have the president saying one thing, the vice president another, the secretary of state a third thing and an ambassador something else. All of those voices need to be heard inside the cabinet room and then the president decides on one single message and everybody else sticks to it. And if it takes a few days to figure out what to say, you just be honest and say we're still figuring things out, we hope for the best for the Egyptian people, etc.

 

By the way, Beavah, I notice you're quite capable of writing without an accent... or is that only inside someone else's quotation marks?

[eisely]

I just came across this and could not believe Oprah actually said this with regards to President Obama:

 

"I feel that everybody has a learning curve, and I feel that the reason why I was willing to step out for him was because I believed in his integrity and I believed in his heart," the influential TV host said on MSNBCs Morning Joe in Chicago. [pasted from Politico]

 

I personally don't believe that presidents are entitled to much of a learning curve. The world is too dangerous a place and there is too much at stake to overlook the lack of real experience and some kind of track record in voting for president. Clearly the majority of the electorate disagreed with me in 2008.

 

 

[CalicoPenn]

Fine - Obama could have given a great speech - in fact, he gave a pretty similar speech about backing democracy and the people of Egypt.

 

Frankly, I find it to be a problem of media management - though I don't think the administration can manage the kind of media we have now.

 

What most know about the issues in Egypt is bits and pieces that the media grabs on to and tries to make them the center of something that doesn't neccessarily have a center. Fox News jumped on the Muslim Brotherhood angle and held onto it like a pit bull, even though the Muslim Brotherhood has no real chance of being anything but a bit player in the game.

 

NPR and CNN grabbed a hold of a Nobel Laureate who gives good sound bite but is a rather wishy-washy, mealy-mouthed individual who comes off, in my opinion, as someone who will step in after everyone else does the hard work.

 

What was left out of the discussion, the things that made the line that the administration had to walk that much finer, is what would happen if the Military took a hard line position against the protestors in support of Mubarak. We know that the administration was keeping in close contact to the government and military - and sometimes the smartest move is not to tell everyone what you know.

 

I'm thanking the Goddess that Obama is President during this time, when we need someone who can look at all the angles and think about what it means. Had we had someone like our last President who came out and demanded Mubarak leave, and threatened Egypt, I don't think this transistion to democracy would be taking place the way it is.

 

 

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

NJCubScouter writes:

Since it appears that Mubarak has handed over authority to the military leadership, it may be that the Egyptian people are about to re-learn the lesson, "Be careful what you wish for, you may get it." It's as old as the pyramids.

 

I read somewhere that the USA is the only country in the western hemisphere whose government started with a revolution and that didn't fall to a military coup within a few years (and there were some close calls along those lines).

[vol_scouter]

Merlyn,

 

I have read a similar thing but I have never tried to verify its' veracity. I seldom remember a military coup that did not result in a dictatorship. We must hope that Egypt breaks that mould.