Why Can't President Obama Sustain Change?

Dear Friends,

I have been struck lately by President Obama's inability to escape doing business as it has always been done.  He seems to want to change the way things are done and even starts down that path sometimes but then he is inexplicably reined in and pulled back by some mysterious force that seems to require him to act in the ways that our government always acts.

President Obama's handling of the Egypt revolution is a case in point.  He (and Secretary of State Clinton) started out focused on stability and apparent loyalty to a long time ally (also known as yet another terrible dictator that the United States has propped up in exchange for "stability").  Then in a wonderful reversal, he really seemed to be in support of the goals of the anti-Mubarak protesters even going so far as to say that change must start "now".  As I indicated in an earlier post, even that was not going far enough, but it was a break from the way the United States government has reacted in the past to similar events.

Now once again he has retreated to a stance that a departure of President Mubarak now would hurt the prospects for democracy in Egypt.  The rationale for the position is laughable.  Secretary Clinton says that if President Mubarak steps down now the Egyptian constitution demands elections in 60 days which is too fast so President Mubarak must stay until a new constitution is negotiated and in place.  President Mubarak has been acting under emergency powers since 1981, I think that the current constitution could be suspended for a few months to work out the details of proceeding.  The Obama Administration's rationale is simply a smoke screen to permit it to return to the old way of doing business.

We dishonor the bravery of the protesters and our own democratic values by continuing to support a dictator who continues to this day to hold political prisoners and journalists in secret undoubtedly torturing them as he did the countless prisoners that the United States sent (is sending??) to him for torture under our rendition program.  President Mubarak needs to go now.  A truly independent caretaker government needs to be put in place with the support of the Army to craft a new constitution and hold free and fair elections that encourage the inclusion of all.

So why does President Obama have such a difficult time being the change I think that he really wants to be?

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal