Obama urges Egypt to go into transition process 'right now'

Obama praised Mubarak for announcing he would not seek reelection in September, but said more was needed. The key question for Mubarak is "How do I leave a legacy behind?" Obama said. "How do I get through this transformative period? I hope he makes the right decision."

"The only thing that is going to work is moving to an orderly transition process, right now," the president said, adding that change must also be responsive to the grievances of people.

President Obama on Friday stopped short of urging President Hosni Mubarak to step down from power but made it clear that suppression and violence would not be effective in dealing with Egypt's ongoing protests.

"In light of what's happened, going back to the old ways is not going to work," Obama said at a televised news conference. "Suppression is not going to work, violence is not going to work.

I understand the idea of Mubarak being a dictator, but tell me exactly why he shouldn’t be able to seek reelection if a free election is held?

I heard he gots The Cancer - otherwise I'd agree with you.
Nonetheless, the U.S. White House has no business trying to boot him out early. It is unseemly and will most likely lead to chaos and an islamic takeover.

I don't know if Mubarak can smooth things out between now and the Fall to position an non-islamic candidate - but at least there is a chance he can pull it off. The Leftists in the White House want to bring down the Egyptian government now - which is nuts.

I kinda hope this shit blows up right in his Big Eared face. That would put Gas at the 7 dollar a gallon range here and a whole lot of socialists would be heading for the back doors when the “toothless red neck hayseeds” come with their guns at the ready.

We are heading for civil war..there is nearly no way to avoid it.

I believe M. Elbaradei wants to muscle into power as fast as he can before the democratic process can give the people of Egypt the time to determine who will be their leader in an orderly process. What I am seeing is the demise of democracy in Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood muscles its way into power. This is an insult to Egypt who should be operating as a civilized nation.

Our own President, knowing very well what is happening, has been derelict of duty. He should be calling on the people of Egypt to seek the democratic process and not a coup d’état born out of anarchy. He should be calling on the Mubarak regime to call for a no-confidence vote of the people. If Mubarak fails to receive a vote of confidence, a special election should be called for a candidate primary with a primary election date set. The top two candidates with the most votes in the primary would go on to the general election with that date set to give sufficient time for the campaigns.

If Mubarak receives a no-confidence vote, he should step down and setup an interim government which would run Egypt during the election process.

If Egypt goes on the path they are taking, they will end up with the worst possible leadership to run their country. Only through the democratic process will Egypt find the best leader for their country.

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