Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak spoke for what seemed like forever today while perhaps hundreds of thousands in the streets waited to hear the magic words he never said. Those words would have been, should have been: “I quit” or something equivalent. In Cairo’s Tahir Square they shouted around 11 p.m. Central Time “Get out! Get out! while Mubarak kept talking and talking and talking. And he kept saying nothing and nothing and nothing. At least to those who want Mubarak to leave.
“I don’t know if he has a brain or his brain is elsewhere … This guy is calling for more rage in the country,” I heard one Egyptian interviewed by CNN in Tahir Square say, just after Mubark’s televised speech ended.
There was anticipation in the media Mubarak would step down today. But it seems like the Egyptian people who are wanting the longtime leader gone yesterday are getting the Lucy Van Pelt football treatment. Mubarak sticks out the football and then takes it away just as the long-suffering Egyptians run up to kick it.
Mubarak spoke, through translation, as if he is the single-handed savior of his nation while he seems to be only tearing it apart with each delusional speech he makes to an increasingly angry Egyptian people. This could be the worst yet for his nation. He has a pissed-off people on his hands. That can only spell more unrest, perhaps massive bloodshed.
It seems Mubarak is too arrogant, too bought in to his own legend and his own legacy to care if even more blood is shed.
If given a chance by Clash — will I stay or will I go — Mubarak should have picked the latter. He chose the former. He is a fool. The blood, if shed, will be on his hands.
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