Obama's Inspiring Speech About Egypt... What Will He Say When Blood Starts Running In Algiers' Streets

What a compelling, beautiful, inspiring speech. I wish he accurately described my country's policies. It doesn't. The world isn't that simple, straight forward and idealistic. It's still a nice speech and even if I thought my country was just aspiring towards the sentiments in it, it would make me feel better. More likely, though, the ruling elites are laughing their asses off, hoping Egypt's revolution has been diverted, even if good ole Hosni had to go into exile with his billions and billions of dollars he plundered from Egypt. (I noticed the Swiss froze his assets. Did Beverly Hills? I don't think so.)

It was one of those magic moments that caught the whole world up yesterday-- except the pro-tyranny forces at the bed-bug infested CPAC convention. A hated brutal dictator was brought down by the collective will of his subjects-- nonviolently. End of story? Hardly. Obama's speech is soaring; Thomas Ferguson's warning last week was... more to the point:

Add Barack Obama to the long list of statesmen who couldn’t solve the Riddle of the Sphinx. For a while last week it looked like a miracle was happening: The United States was on the verge of doing right and doing well at the same time. After stumbling initially, the administration openly warned the Egyptian army and government not to slaughter the protesters. It also started lining up behind the Egyptian people’s demands for a swift transition to a new, more democratic regime. Neo-con lions like Robert Kagan and Elliott Abrams bedded down with liberal internationalist lambs in a “Working Group on Egypt” that called for reforms and Mubarak’s exit, while John McCain and other Republicans offered bipartisan cover for Real Change in the world’s oldest civilization.

But by Saturday, February 5, the wheels started coming off. With oil prices threatening the anemic global recovery and commodity prices soaring, the President dialed up leaders of the Persian Gulf states for whom the aging Egyptian leader is Mummy Dearest. As the world watched in astonishment, Frank Wisner, a veteran US diplomat who now works with a major Washington law firm that represents major Egyptian business and government interests, calmly advised the Munich Security Conference that Mubarak should stay on for a while. The hapless State Department responded by being against it before the White House and other NATO leaders all came out for it.

Now with the whole world watching, Mubarak’s American (and Soviet-- the Cold War is truly over) trained intelligence chief now presides over the “democratic transition” as Mubarak holds on.

It’s always dangerous if you lose your compass amid the desert sands. But for the White House to lose its moral compass now is potentially catastrophic. The President is already bent on one Mission Impossible in Afghanistan, a land that Alexander the Great couldn’t conquer. Now he’s trying again in a place that Napoleon couldn’t hold.

American ally, Israel, and the rulers of client states Jordan, Morocco, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia all feel very threatened by the uncertainty that is now gripping Egypt. Those are the sands Obama is treading now-- while taking enemy fire from the bedbug infested CPACyderms.