The riots in Egypt continue today, amid calls from the opposition coalition for one million protesters to take to the streets of Cairo tomorrow, in an effort to end the 30 year reign of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in favor of a new unity government composed of ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Oh, boy.

The coalition wants Mubarak to step down as president by Friday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the rounds of the Sunday Morning Talk Shows, trying to show that the Obama Administration and the State Department were on top of this world-changing situation, while pressing for a move to democracy in the largest Arab country.

Here are some quotes from Madame Secretary, from seattlepi.com:

From This Week with Christine Amanpour:

Real stability only comes from the kind of democratic participation that allows people to feel that they are being heard.

She also issued a warning that America would not accept

…democracy of six months or a year and then evolving essentially into a military dictatorship.

On NBC’s Meet the Press she said the US would not accept

…faux democracy like the elections we saw in Iran…where you have one election 30 years ago and the people stay in power and become less and less responsive to their people.

It is not a question of who retains power –that should not be the issue. It is how are we going to respond to the legitimate grievances expressed by the Egyptian people and chart a new path.

We want to see free and fair elections and we expect that will be one of the outcomes of what is going on in Egypt right now.

We continue to urge the Egyptian government, as the United States has for thirty years, to respond to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people and begin to take concrete steps to implement democratic and economic reforms.

Hillary tap danced like Shirley Temple when CNN’s Candy Crowley on American Morning asked her whether the U.S. is beginning to back away from Mubarak, proclaiming:

[W]e do not want to send any message about backing forward or backing back. What we’re trying to do is to help clear the air so that those who remain in power, starting with President Mubarak, with his new vice president, with the new prime minister, will begin a process of reaching out, of creating a dialogue that will bring in peaceful activists and representatives of civil society to, you know, plan a way forward that will meet the legitimate grievances of the Egyptian people.

She also said that the reports that the administration was using the aid that we send to Egypt for leverage was false:

There is no discussion as of this time of cutting off any aid. We always are looking and reviewing our aid.

On CBS’s Face The Nation, she answered the question about the possibility of a hard-line Islamic regime following Mubarak:

Well, first I’m not speculating about who goes or who stays. And I’m not prepared to comment on what kind of democratic process the Egyptian people can construct for themselves. But we obviously want to see people who are truly committed to democracy — not to imposing any ideology on Egyptians.

Not that there is any pressure on Obama and his Administration from the opposition coalition:

Per breitbart.com:

The United States is “losing credibility by the day” in calling for democracy in Egypt while continuing to support President Hosni Mubarak, leading dissident Mohamed ElBaradei said Sunday.

Nope.  No pressure at all.

So, in the bold spirit of Jimmy Carter, it appears that President Barack Hussein Obama is going to fly under the radar, stepping away from the fray until a victor is declared. 

This hands-off approach that he is taking concerning Egypt is in keeping with his sympathies toward the Muslim world.  However, this theme of encouraging democracy in countries that have never experienced it before has its dangers, as Obama himself said in his speech at Cairo University to the Muslim world on Thursday, June 4th, 2009:

This last point is important because there are some who advocate for democracy only when they are out of power; once in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others. No matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who hold power: you must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true democracy.

By the way, according to haaretz.com, in an article posted the day of this famous speech:

U.S. President Barack Obama met with members of Egypt’s Islamist opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, earlier this year, according to a report in Thursday editions of the Egyptian daily newspaper Almasry Alyoum.

The newspaper reported that Obama met the group’s members, who reside in the U.S. and Europe, in Washington two months ago.

According to the report, the members requested that news of the meeting not be publicized. They expressed to Obama their support for democracy and the war on terror.

The newspaper also reported that the members communicated to Obama their position that the Muslim Brotherhood would abide by all agreements Egypt has signed with foreign countries.

That’s nice to know, since once the riots are over, the Muslim Brotherhood will be controlling the government of Egypt.

That could be one of the reasons that Obama is laying back.

Ya think?