Obama: The Time For Change is Now

Obama: The Time For Change is Now

A recent interview on Fox news with US President Barack Obama stated that he was confident that an orderly political transition in Egypt would produce a government that will remain a US partner.

According to Obama, the ideology of Mubarak’s strongest opposition the Muslim Brotherhood, included anti-US strains. He alleged that the Brotherhood lacked majority support.
Barack maintained that it was necessary to understand not only two options were out on the table referring to the Muslim Brotherhood and the suppressed Egyptian people.

The US president called for a representative government in Egypt, maintaining that he believed that if Egypt moved in an orderly transitional process, Egypt would work together as a partner.
Obama asserted that only Mubarak, in power for 30 years, knew if he would leave office in the near future, adding, however, that Egypt is not going to return to what it was, stressing that the Egyptian people want freedom, free and fair elections and a representative and responsible government.

In a related note, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a conversation with newly appointed Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, urged for a broad cross-section of Egyptian political forces to be included in talks with the government to order to guarantee that the people’s legitimate aspirations were met.
 
In a statement, she also called for the ending of incidents of harassment and the detention of activists, journalists and other elements of civil society, saying that they must stop. It appeared however that there was a softening of US pressure on Mubarak to step down.