I'm very glad Obama didn't ask Mubarak to step down. It was wise of him not to.

[egressingsparrowdrop]

I'm not trying to wag a finger at anyone, though there were some here on a petition bandwagon to get Obama to tell Mubarak to leave.

Now that it's over, Wael Ghonim has shed light on that issue, and said Obama was right not to get involved.

Wael is the Google executive being being credited as galvanizing the revolution online - being a kind of leader of the leaderless movement. He was arrested and held blindfolded for 12 days

In his 60 minutes interview he is quite clear on his feelings about western leaders getting involved:

It was good that (Obama) supports the revolution, that was a good stand, but we (didn't) really need him...I wrote a Tweet. I wrote 'dear western governments, you have been supporting the regime that was oppressing us for 30 years, please don't get involved now. We don't need you.

See the 7:35 mark in this video:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x553636

It was a laudable effort, and well-intentioned, to try a grassroots effort to get Obama to clearly ask Mubarak to leave...but in hindsight it was misguided. In my opinion, it may have actually hurt the situation.

Obama read the Egyptian people, and handled the situation perfectly.

[gateley]

1. I agree. It's not our place to dictate the actions in another country. He made his

feelings known, that was enough. Those in power know that spoke volumes on its own.

On the other hand, it's really horrific to know we tolerate these bastards and look the other way as long as they are serving a purpose that benefits the U.S. Well, one country at a time, hopefully, we can work on that dirty secret when the people are successful in ousting their oppressors.

[former9thward]

2. No one knows what Obama said or didn't say.

Wael Ghonim certainly doesn't because he was part of the conversations. We won't know until books are written by Obama and his aides five or ten years from now.

[egressingsparrowdrop]

3. I should have specified...we're speaking about public comments here...

...not private phone calls/cables. Public comments, to create public pressure, is what some where calling for

[egressingsparrowdrop]

4. bedtime kick...

sweet dreams