Obama, who had struggled to calibrate his response to a popular uprising against Mubarak's long authoritarian rule, was due to deliver a statement at 1:30 p.m. EST after Mubarak handed power over to the army.
Washington had walked a fine line since the demonstrations began, endorsing the democratic aspirations of the protesters but trying not to openly abandon a long-time ally or encourage an abrupt upheaval that could spill over into other parts of the oil-rich Middle East.
But the next crisis is upon us as we prepare to figuratively battle in the streets of Egypt to prevent anti-democratic elements from taking advantage of the crisis and to help pro-democracy elements understand just what democracy means in practice rather than representing the absence of Mubarak.
Part of that battle means keeping the Muslem Brotherhood out of a new government.
Through luck or skill, we seem to have sided with the military of Egypt, supported the protesters with words just enough to avoid alienating them, and managed to softly push Mubarak out. Good for President Obama on that. Right now, I don't care if we were lucky or skillful (although Clapper makes it hard to argue the latter). I'll bet that our military-to-military contacts paid off big time.
But the war isn't over, just a phase is over. It is just time for the next crisis. Fight for freedom in Egypt. Teach them how to elect good men.
Oh, and we now know that Tunisia was not a one-off. Egypt is too little of a trend line to tell if this is a signal for an age of revolution in the Arab world. But three would make it a trend. So let's prepare for the next crisis outside of Egypt, eh? And maybe get ahead of it?
[NOTE: I moved the quote to where I had intended to put it.]
