The President’s brief comments from the State Dining Room of the White House suggest that he doesn’t necessarily see the imminent end to Mubarak’s reign — or consider it anything close to a slam dunk that whatever might emerge post-Mubarak will be more democratic. If this were a clear choice between an authoritarian regime and a western-style democracy, it’d be a no-brainer. But it’s not. It’s a problem to be managed, with the sober understanding that the real world offers potential outcomes that are worse than Mubarak.
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TPM Reader DH strenuously objects:
I wrote earlier but I can’t help but write again given David’s latest post. As a longtime reader, I’m embarrassed that a website I love so much and recommend to so many people is peddling the idea that we need to be cautious about supporting an extraordinary uprising from all quarters of Egyptian society that is calling for the end to a 30-year dictatorship.
Reuters pegs the number of dead since the unrest began at 74. More than 1,000 were injured in Cairo.
President Mubarak has now appointed a vice president, the first time this has been done in thirty years and a significant development because in post-monarchy Egypt the vice president normally been the presumed successor. Steve Clemons tells us what we should know about Omar Suleiman.
The leaders of the UK, France and Germany have released a joint statement on the situation in Egypt …
“We are deeply concerned about the events that we are witnessing in Egypt. We recognise the moderating role President Mubarak has played over many years in the Middle East. We now urge him to show the same moderation in addressing the current situation in Egypt.
“We call on President Mubarak to avoid at all costs the use of violence against unarmed civilians, and on the demonstrators to exercise their rights peacefully.“It is essential that the further political, economic and social reforms President Mubarak has promised are implemented fully and quickly and meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people.
“There must be full respect for human rights and democratic freedoms, including freedom of expression and communication, including use of telephones and the internet, and the right of peaceful assembly.
“The Egyptian people have legitimate grievances and a longing for a just and better future. We urge President Mubarak to embark on a process of transformation which should be reflected in a broad-based government and in free and fair elections.”
When I saw the headline, I wondered — perhaps thought — they’d be getting out ahead of the Obama administration on this critical question. A bit. But not much.
While Egypt is the story of the day and perhaps the month and year, don’t miss a very different subject we’re discussing over at TPMCafe Bookclub. This week we’re discussing Michael Wolraich’s Blowing Smoke: Why the Right Keeps Serving Up Whack-Job Fantasies about the Plot to Euthanize Grandma, Outlaw Christmas, and Turn Junior into a Raging Homosexual.
Anthony Shadid is on the ground in Cairo for the New York Times covering the Egyptian uprising. But the questions and challenges to be faced over the coming days makes me want to go back and reread his Legacy of the Prophet: Despots, Democrats, and the New Politics of Islam.
See his discussion of his 2005 book on post-invasion Iraq in TPMCafe Book Club back in late 2005.
Protestors rally — literally and figuratively — to ElBaradei, as world leaders press Mubarak to make an orderly departure from the stage.