By Mike Dorning and Kate Andersen Brower
Source: Bloomberg Business Week
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama placed his office’s prestige behind the demonstrators who toppled Egypt’s leader, as he today praised their use of the “moral force” of peaceful protest to change their nation and put it on the path toward democracy.
While cautioning that the departure of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak is the beginning, not the end, of the country’s transition, Obama expressed confidence that the Egyptians will be able to fulfill the potential of the moment.
“This is the power of human dignity, and it can never be denied,” Obama said in remarks at the White House. “For Egypt, it was the moral force of nonviolence -- not terrorism, not mindless killing -- but nonviolence, moral force, that bent the arc of history toward justice once more.”
Obama’s words echoed the language of the U.S. civil rights movement and of his own presidential campaign. An emotional high point of Obama’s 2008 campaign stump speech came when he quoted Martin Luther King Jr. on the “arc” of the “moral universe;” the line is now inscribed on a carpet in the Oval Office.
After weeks in which the administration balanced support for democratic aspirations with a hesitancy to openly repudiate Mubarak, a longtime U.S. ally, Obama’s statement today showed him clearly embracing the Egyptian uprising.
Speaking hours after the Egyptian president relinquished power after 30 years in office, Obama said the U.S. will provide whatever assistance is needed to keep Egypt’s transformation on the right track.
‘History Taking Place’
“There are very few moments in our lives where we have the privilege to witness history taking place. This is one of those moments,” Obama said. “The people of Egypt have spoken, their voices have been heard, and Egypt will never be the same.”
Mubarak’s bow to the demands of protesters who have crowded central Cairo for the past 18 days in what became a demand for his ouster relieves one challenge for the Obama administration and presents another in managing policy toward the Middle Eastern country.
“The Egypt scene is as complex for us, the regional scene is more complex now that Mubarak has stepped down,” said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a policy research organization in Washington.
Israeli Concerns
U.S. regional interests are at stake, with Israel concerned about being isolated, and allies such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia anxious about discontent among their own citizens, Katulis said.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the U.S. believes “it’s important” that the next Egyptian government abide by the country’s peace treaty with Israel.
While U.S. influence over future events in Egypt is limited, the Obama administration must press for “change to be dynamic, responsive to the needs of democracy and human rights and economic justice,” said Edward Djerejian, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Syria.
The U.S. will also have to urge that the transition “be done in a peaceful and orderly manner so that that this people’s revolution is not hijacked by radicals,” he said.
Djerejian said it’s unlikely the government will be taken over by extremists.
Muslim Brotherhood
“The Egyptians will bring in the representative groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is a vibrant middle class and a liberal entrepreneurial class in Egypt,” he said.
Obama was informed during an Oval Office meeting earlier today of Mubarak’s decision to step down. He then went to an outer office to watch television coverage of the scene in Cairo for several minutes, Tommy Vietor, an administration spokesman, said in an e-mail.
Statements by Obama and other administration officials yesterday indicated they expected Mubarak to take this step sooner.
“We are witnessing history unfold,” Obama said before Mubarak addressed his country last night. “It’s a moment of transformation.”
Instead, Mubarak in his address said he would cede some authority to his vice president, Omar Suleiman, and remain in office until elections scheduled for September. He also decried outside interference, a rebuke to the U.S.
Obama expressed impatience in a written statement issued afterward that also called on the Egyptian leaders to explain their plan for a transition from Mubarak’s reign.
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“The Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity,” Obama said in the statement.
Mubarak’s resignation came after Egyptians streamed out of prayers today vowing to topple the 82-year-old leader.
The administration had been monitoring financial and oil markets on concern that the turmoil would spread to other nations in the region, including Gulf oil-producing states. Stocks rose and oil fell after Egyptian state television announced Mubarak was stepping down.
--With assistance from Kate Andersen Brower, Hans Nichols, Nicholas Johnston and Viola Gienger in Washington. Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Ann Hughey.
