President Obama is all up in the Business, in Egypt. But not for Change

President Obama is all up in the business.  The business of preventing "Change" in Egypt. That's not what he saying of course, because President Obama is the first "James Bond President", well trained, determined, strategic, cool, and merciless. 

At last weeks' White House Press Conference, President Obama portrayed himself as watching events unfold while doing his best to nudge Mubarak to bend to the will of the people by transitioning to a unity government to establish democratic norms.  President Obama stated, "exactly how the transition would occur is “not a decision ultimately the United States makes or any country outside of Egypt makes”. Right, because then, according to the New York Times, President Obama "laid out a series of principles designed to hem Mr. Mubarak in, and reduce his options." while promoting America's interests in the region. These principles where then full court pressed forward by Vice President Biden on down. 

Clearly President Obama's got Henry Kissinger's art of "realpolitik" nation building, down to a science. That says, support your puppet dictator even in times of trouble. Which he did starting two years ago, when the British Broadcasting Company( BBC) asked President Obama after his famous Speech in Cairo, if he was going to mention to Mubarak about his authoritarian government.  Mubarak, who was laying the foundation to gift the presidency to his son Gamall, (who has enriched his friends at the expense of regular Egyptians), and had just incarcerated a fresh batch of prominent political prisoners.  Despite this, President Obama replied

  "I don’t like to use labels for folks. Mubarak is a good man. He has done good things. He has maintained stability. We will continue to support him. He is a friend." President Obama was true to his word right up until last week when it became clear that the Egyptian people had reached the proverbial Bastille.  President Obama then blamed the CIA for not providing good information to him.  Now Obama has moved to the second chapter of  "realpolitik"  that says when the puppet has become trapped and entangled in his own wires, cut the wires and pick another puppet. This requires muscle. 

President Obama is clearly comfortable in flexing to "make it happen" by taking a play from America's history of "gunboat diplomacy".  But in this day,  instead of sending an ambassador, escorted by a phalanx of battle ships to "negotiate",  our shrewd President gently flexed the apex of America's might, in the form of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to be the two ton American Gorilla voice to "speak softly" to those in the hookah smoked filled back room in Cairo.  I'm talking the United State's Pentagon.  

But guess what? The students who started this uprising aint with the program. The Egyptian students and young professionals don't want  Mubarak's long time confidant and close Washington ally Omar Suleiman, any where near the new government. Suleiman was in charge of the most feared Egyptian intelligence agency, who would have used extreme violence to suppress the protesters had the Egyptian Army allowed it. Again this is the same agency that was in charge of totally squashing democracy by torture and filling Egyptian jails with political prisoners and human rights activist for 30 years. 

  Suleiman's double dealing on behalf of America and the status quo in Egypt were exposed yesterday when Suleiman stated that an agreement had been reached for a transitional government.  This was not true. And the young leaders and the Muslim Brother Hood who are wisely standing in support behind the students, publicly rebuked both Suleiman and America.  Clearly Egypt wants Change.  I just wish President Obama would spend as much time keeping his word about bringing change to America,  instead of perpetuating the same status quo in Egypt, that he's continuing in America where the haves have it all and get even more.  I also wish America could be like more Egypt and saw now, we will settle for nothing less than real Democratic Change.