http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/clueless-in-cairo/?src=tptwSo President Hosni Mubarak has announced that he won’t run for office again in the September elections. That would have been a historic decision if he had made it two weeks ago, and it might have avoided the present mess. But today, it’s too little, too late. And if the White House has devoted its political capital to getting Mubarak to agree to such a half-measure, then I fear that there’s a measure of cluelessness on both sides.
Now it’s true Mubarak did talk about moving up elections. If he had announced a specific date, that might have helped. But there is no trust for Mubarak, and a vague promise to step down at the end of his term, or possibly after early elections — will not placate the public. Moreover, there was a pugnaciousness to his speech that may inflame many people. He said that protesters had been exploited by those who sought to loot and disrupt Egypt, and he said that some factions were refusing his offer of dialogue. He pledged that he would die in Egypt, rather than seek exile.
I’m afraid that too many Egyptian and American officials have been spending their time talking to each other, and not enough time talking to grassroots Egyptians in Tahrir Square and elsewhere. Everybody I’ve interviewed in Tahrir has said that as a starting point, Mubarak has to resign. Now! People aren’t going to be placated by him saying that he won’t run again – especially since it was never clear that he planned to do so anyway.
(snip)
So in Washington and Cairo, I’d say: back to the drawing board. Events here in Cairo are incredibly hard to predict, but I don’t think this will be enough.
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