Hillary Clinton calls for 'real democracy' in Egypt

[Tx4obama]

Source: Politico

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continued the Obama administration’s careful but unmistakable move away from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Sunday, declining to repeat her assessment that the Egyptian government is “stable,” and instead pressing for a move to democracy in the largest Arab country.

“Real stability only comes from the kind of democratic participation that allows people to feel that they are being heard,” Clinton said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week with Christiane Amanpour,” calling for “real democracy.”

She warned that the U.S. would not accept two alternatives as potential ends to the current crisis: “democracy of six months or a year and then evolving essentially into a military dictatorship” or – a scarier specter for American policymakers –what she described on NBC’s “Meet The Press” as “faux democacy 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.”

Clinton, who appeared on all five morning talk shows Sunday, delivered an American message that has been refined in recent days to walk a careful line of demanding reform, and sympathizing with the masses of peaceful protesters , while falling short of outright condemnation of Mubarak – or demanding that he leave.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48433.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Obama threw Mubarak under the buss during his speech

yesterday... it wasn't that clear, it was in diplomatese. This was as clear as you can get... and Gregory tried hard to push words on her.

[Ken Burch]

2. And after that, maybe someday we can get "real democracy" here

With direct presidential elections, proportional representation for legislative and congressional races, and federal campaign funding so that corporations can't always buy the result.

[Hydra]

5. They don't want real democracy there, so why would they want it here?

They want something they can control.

[treestar]

23. -1 million

jeepers!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ken Burch]

25. What's with YOU?

I wasn't saying we have it as bad as Egypt...just that WE need REAL democracy.

Or are you actually against the things I listed as being necessary to it?

[treestar]

29. Then get busy on the repeal of the electoral college

But it does not mean we are not democratic. It has only created a problem twice.

We do have proportional representation. If you have problems with gerrymandering, then get on it. That and abolishing the Senate or making it proportional.

But whatever the purport of these issues, they are not much compared to living under a dictatorship.

[Beacool]

24. Hear, hear!!!

"Democracy" is a relative term in this country. We have a pretty shabby way of electing party nominees and then presidents. How about direct representation? Instead of delegate apportioning and convoluted ways of gaming the system. The candidate who gets the most votes, wins that state. Eliminate the electoral college. Let's have closed primaries, no disenfranchising caucuses. Short campaigns. No other western country has campaigns that last 1 1/2 years. They are a waste of time and money. How many millions of dollars did Hillary and Obama raise in 2008? How much was raised by the Republicans? How much of that money came from big donors and bundlers? Plenty of it. How about if instead of our politicians having to spend most of their time raising money they were to spend that time in doing the people's business? What a novel concept......

;(

[SkyDaddy7]

3. Finally!!!

But I understand exactly why they have been taking the approach they have.

I know many here utterly hate Obama but one thing is for sure this guy has so much more on his plate than any President in my 40yr lifetime.

[JDPriestly]

15. Right now, most Americans have more on their plates than in their

lifetimes. Obama and his fans seem to ignore the fact that it is Obama's job to help the many Americans who are overwhelmed by the current situation. Obama is just focused on the banks and the wealthy. That's why many of us would like to see a challenge to Obama's candidacy in 2012.

His State of the Union speech was good with the exception of his statements about education and trade, but it was otherwise mostly because he did not talk about some of the most important issues like leaving Social Security as is.

[SkyDaddy7]

17. Everyone has an opinion. nt.

[treestar]

22. His job is to run the executive branch

and enforce the law.

He did what he could to help - the stimulus, etc.

One does not have to be a "fan" to realize that - one only has to be an adult.

[JDPriestly]

28. He appointed Geithner, reappointed Summers and has

increasingly appointed conservatives to his cabinet and as his advisors. He said he wanted to look forward, but he has surrounded himself with backward-looking, backward-thinking people. That sends a message of fear and, yes, looking backward.

No wonder the Tea Baggers have gained such momentum. With no sector of the government offering solutions for the future, there is nowhere to look but to the past. And that is what the Tea Baggers are about -- looking to the past. Not a one of their ideas is really creative and moving into the future.

Obama talks about new ideas for alternative energy and a couple of other worthwhile, new ideas but has appointed mostly folks whose eyes are in the backs of their heads. It's really sad. It certainly is not change.

[treestar]

30. You're fixating on people, and hatred of certain people

But not on what actually has occurred.

[JDPriestly]

35. Geithner, Summers, et al. personify Obama's policies.

A president decides what issues he will prioritize and what policies he will push based on the advice and input of his aides.

Obama is the leader of the Democratic Party and more specifically of the Democrats in Congress. Perhaps a great deal of his problem is that he hasn't really understood or taken that part of his job seriously. That may be why he lost so badly in this last election.

I don't hate anyone, especially not the people I mentioned. I just don't' think that their policies are smart or good for America. Not a one of them is capable of creative thinking or intelligent problem-solving. They are all rather pedantic and limited in their experience of life. They have all enjoyed privilege their entire adult lives if not during their childhoods. They are oblivious to the suffering of Americans around the country.

[Billy Burnett]

4. But, she supports the ban on the most popular political party in Haiti. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

8. Its what more commonly known as

cynicism.

[Billy Burnett]

12. And hypocrisy. n/t

[jimmie]

6. I'm with you Hill

I want democracy there too..

Of course we may get Iran The Sequel and all the great things that would mean.

I think she knows what may happen and it may not be pretty.

[JDPriestly]

16. We probably will not get Iran.

Egypt does not have oil. The reason that the mullahs could take over in Iran was that they felt secure that they could fund what they want to do with their oil. Egypt does not have the same kind of economic base that Iran has.

[leftynyc]

34. You do realize how much

oil is shipped through the Suez canal don't you? We could very well wind up with a theocracy in Egypt.

[Lint Head]

7. Please God don't give Egypt a Supreme Court like our cowardly

anti human rights one.

[bvar22]

9. I would LOVE to feel like I was being heard by our government.

I am a member of the Working Class.



"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans,
family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."
---Paul Wellstone


"By their works, you will know them."

[defendandprotect]

14. I'm sure you're being heard -- you're simply also being ignored -- !!!

[No Elephants]

19. +1 and LOL "The Left has nowhere else to go." (Conventional wisdom.)

[closeupready]

33. Yup.

:rofl:

[PoliticAverse]

10. Has she invited the "friends of my family" Mr and Mrs Mubarek to come stay with her yet?

"I really consider President and Mrs. Mubarak to be friends of my family. So I hope to see him often here in Egypt and in the United States."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/09/AR2009030902478.html

[NOLALady]

11. Is there a

Leonard Cohen in the house?

[defendandprotect]

13. ... and how about some "real democracy" at home?

[No Elephants]

18. NOW, we want democracy in Egypt? LOL, transparent much?

We've very knowingly supported a corrupt dictator for 30 years, helping him suppress his people with our arms and tear gas.

In the early days of this uprising, we fumbled and harumphed, trying to have it both ways.

IMO, we want dictators who are our allies to stay in power. Democratic countries make unreliable puppets. You don't always get a poodle like Blair.

[Odin2005]

20. She says that now, but before now she was Hosni's buddy.

[rabs]

21. With Egypt on the brink, Hillary off today to another hot spot -- Haiti

to apparently arrange the results the U.S. wants in the Haitian runoff election.

------------------------------


Reuters Pictures 2 hours ago
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C) shares a light moment with someone in the crowd during a visit to a cholera treatment center in Port-au-Prince January 30, 2011. Clinton pressed Haiti's leaders on Sunday to adopt an internationally backed solution to an election dispute that threatens stability in the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation.

-------------------

"a light moment" at a cholera treatment center :shrug: Caption writer should be flogged with wet noodles. :-)


---------------------------


By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 30, 2011; 7:06 PM

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton turned her attention Sunday from Egypt to a crisis closer to home - a disputed presidential election in Haiti that threatens to stall its recovery from a massive earthquake.

Clinton's visit to Haiti came as the U.S. government is pressing President Rene Preval to accept election monitors' conclusion that his handpicked candidate did not qualify for a runoff. "We've made it very clear we support the OAS recommendations and we would like to see those those acted on," Clinton told reporters, referring to the election monitors from the Organization of American States.

U.S. officials fear the extended dispute over the fraud-riddled Nov. 28 elections will discourage the flow of investments and aid to the country as it struggles to recover from an earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people a year ago. About 800,000 people still live in squalid camps.

Clinton's schedule Sunday included meetings with Preval and the candidates that the OAS deemed the top vote-getters in the November balloting - former first lady Mirlande Manigat and singer Michel "Sweet Mickey" Martelly. She also was meeting with Jude Celestin, Preval's candidate. The Haitian electoral commission said in December when it announced preliminary results that Celestin, not Martelly, had qualified for the final round of elections, prompting rioting that left five people dead. After the OAS report, the ruling party said Celestin would drop out of the race, but he has not done so.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/30/AR2011013003516.html

[provis99]

26. real democracy, as long as Mubarak is in charge.

You really have to parse carefully constructed diplomatic statements like this.

[marasinghe]

27. turning circles in the wind, to stay relevant.

the egyptian people will find their own government - good, bad, or indifferent.
stop supporting tame tyrants the world over & everyone has a better chance for a decent government.
and stop pushing the rich guys corporate agenda around the planet.

[Catherina]

31. 30 years too late and $68 billion short for your family members Hillary

Hillary: "I really consider President and Mrs. Mubarak to be friends of my family."

[nalnn]

32. Why the revolution?

Has anyone seen the fliers being handed out in Egypt of Mubarak with a Star of David on his forehead? Google that and you can see what I mean. The arabic text underneath apparently says 30 years of Mubarak and Treason. I am assuming that the treason this refers to is the Israeli/Egyptian peace treaty.

Do they really consider this treaty treason?