Where is "O"?

Where is Obama"? I think Obama is showing his rookie(ness) to the detriment of our country. Remember the campaign ad back when Hillary was running for the Democratic nomination against Barack Obama it said: "It's 2am and the red phone rings, who do you want answering it"? She caught a lot of flack then for suggesting that Barack Obama didn't have the experience to handle international crisis moments. Under Democratic Party pressure she pulled the ads. However, she did ask an important question. What she suggested could happen has happened: the red phone has rung (more than once during his presidency) and the way the President has responded makes it clear he doesn't know how to handle international crisis issues. Specifically, this time, Egypt's unrest and the eventual resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek. President Obama has been a deer in the head lights.

Before anyone thinks I am just jumping on the Obama bash train that isn't the case. He seems likeable to me, genuine, and sincere. He wants us all to "get along". But we live in a world where few people " get along" and certainly not in the middle east. Over there, shit can happen at anytime, for any reason and you have to be prepared ahead of time and be able to respond in the best interests of the U.S. But, the president hasn't. Obama on one occasion said that Mubarek should leave now for the good of the country but then two days later he said there needed to be an orderly transition that could take some time. In the end he stayed out of it and did nothing.

Obama and his advisors needed to be all over this. Should we have supported Mubarek in his hour of need (after all we supported him and some would say propped him up for 30 years, so why not now?) or were we going to back the democracy push? President Obama essentially did neither. I sometimes get the feeling he just crosses his fingers and hopes it will all work out. The problem is he he doesn't want to take sides or risk upsetting people. Israel must be thinking (in fact several Israeli politicians have said so) is this President our friend?

Historically, Egypt has been Israels friend since the Sadat/Begin accords of 1980. A big part of Israel's security in the region has been because they have had Egypt's strength and influence on their side. Egypt, with the largest population of any country in Middle East is now up for grabs. Lurking in the weeds is the Muslim Brotherhood. What happens if the Muslim Brotherhood takes over? They've already said they would enact Sharia law and put in place institutional restrictions. This is shades of Iran under the Ayatollah in the late seventies. Right next door to Israel? That could be a complete disaster.

Look, I was no fan of Mubarek, a man too dumb to realize that as "king" of his own country he needed to take care of the people not harrass them, cheat them and do all the classic textbook things thugs do. He was a poor man's Hussein. He's cut from the same cloth as Hussein but without all of his open arrongance, the chemical murders, and the nerve to invade another middle eastern country like Hussein did in Kuwait (1991). Mubarek, however, did raid the country leaving office with hundreds of millions of dollars while the average Egyptian made less that 2 dollars a day. But the U.S. should have realized that at age 80 he wasn't going to last much longer and then what?

Obama seemed totally caught off guard. His advisors seem totally caught off guard. What did our security council and presidential advisors think? Apparently they didn't think about Egypt at all. The red phone rang and when President Obama answered he did the equivalent of a Bush sitting on the stool staring into space when told about 9/11. Okay, maybe not that bad but also not that far off either.

Mubarek is out okay...rejoice yeah democracy right? Wrong!! The military is in charge and the head of the Military Security is Omar Seuliman. He is the new "temporary" president. Who is Seuliman? He's the guy we have been outsourcing our torture cases too. That's right, when Obama took office he promised no more torture on American soil (that meant Cuba too) and he's kept his word but the torture goes on, the renditions continue. We sent them to Omar Seuliman and his thugs have been doing our dirty work.
The same Seuliman that is NOW in charge of Egypt. He's promised democratic elections in 6 months and I hope he delivers BUT in the meantime there lurks the Muslim Brotherhood. You know they will be busy the next 6 months. I wouldn't be surprised if in about 3-6 months Seuliman announces that it's too soon for free elections, that he will need another 6 months before free elections.
Where is President Obama on this now? Where will President Obama be during the next six months? I fear he will continue to "stay out of it". That isn't nearly enough. Israel's security must be preserved. Like it or not, our security in the region is tied to Israel. Are we going to tie our future to a man that willingly tortures people, heads up a repressive military and now has unlimited powers (remember there are NO checks and balances in Egypt). I hope the President has a better grip on things than this. Unfortunately I don't see that he does. When that red phone rings and it surely will in the next 18 months, I want to know that my President has a plan, and has the resolve to protect American interests.