[[UPDATE 2/1/2011 4pm: Obama just gave a speech that was aired on Al Jazeera saying that the Egyptian government should have a transition now, but I never heard him once mention the word democracy, unlike his 2009 speech in Cairo, where it was one of his central points.]]
When Obama was sworn into office, he used Lincoln's Bible. He tried to draw the parallels to Lincoln, being a Senator from Illinois and all. But one thing Lincoln knew that Obama doesn't is when to take a serious risk and be on the right side of history.
Right now the Egyptian people are demonstrating and wanting a democracy, yet Obama isn't willing to openly go out and declare to the world. As Al Jazeera has reported, Obama in 2009 in his famous speech in Cairo used the word democracy a lot, but now that he actually has the chance to take the stand, he isn't supporting the people in the Middle East that want democracry now. Obama apparently was all talk. If he wasn't all talk, he would get out and tell the the Egyptian people, "We completely support the opposition movement in Egypt. We do realize that while Mubarak has been in power, that he has been a great ally of both Israel and the United States, but Mubarak should yield his government and let the Egyptian people have the right to self-determine what they will do. We are willing to work ElBaradei and help in any way we can in the formation of the new Egyptian government. And while the Egyptian's continue to protest, we will be starting food aid shipments to Egypt, so that the Egyptian people can continue to weather the storm and do not have to worry about feeding their families. Hillary Clinton is also on her way and will be working with the Egyptian opposition and Israel."
Think about it, Tunisia was overthrown and it wasn't until afterward that Obama openly supported the opposition. There are also protests in Lebanon, where people want to have a democractic government. The reason why Al Quaeda can recruit in the Middle East is because the United States supports the dictatorships that suppress the freedoms of the people. If the US begins to support the opposition movements and pressure dictators that are being challenged to yield their power, then the US can destroy the one thing Al Qaueda has - the ability to make it out that the US is the cause of the problems in the Middle East for the average person in the Middle East.
But what about our ally in Saudi Arabia? If King Abdullah starts getting demonstrated against and knows how history is changing, we could cut a deal with him and let him come to the US in exchange for yielding the government to the people. We could have it both ways, show that since he gave support that we would bring him here (maybe he'd bring a lot of money and we could also cut the same deal with Mubarak), and also allow Saudi people know that the US cares about them, not just because they have oil, but because they are human beings that deserve to have their rights.
The United States for the first time would be able to deal with democractically elected governments in the Middle East that it supported and reduce the emotional pull that the terrorists in the Middle East now use against.
Now is the time to end the hypocritcal stance this country has had and show the people of the Middle East that we are willing to stand by them and the rights that they deserve, if they are willing to stand up to their governments. 2012 wouldn't be the end of the world. It would be the start of a golden age of peace. But if Obama doesn't have the guts to stand for democracy in the Middle East when it really matters, it will only harm America and give the radical Islamic groups in the Middle East more arguments as to why America is the Arab people's greatest enemy.
