Democracy: With Us.

At the outset of the Egyptian protests, the United States was in a strange position - awkward at best, devastating at worst.  The people of Egypt rose up against the dictator America had propped up for almost 30 years, and our choices seemed to be between promoting democracy or maintaining our strategic hold on this powerful Arab state.  In fact, just last week, I expressed my hope that America would remain on the side of democracy and not support despotism over uncertainty.

President Obama has navigated this uncertainty quite well.  In a speech on Friday, after Mubarak tendered his resignation, Obama praised the Egyptian protestors for their relentless march toward democracy.  He called their nonviolent means inspiring, voicing his clear and unambiguous support for democracy in Egypt.  As Nicholas Kristof puts it, Obama finally "left wishy-washy behind."

And indeed, Obama's handling of the Egypt situation, as many other commentators have said, is to be praised.  Marc Lynch, in his blog for ForeignPolicy.com, notes Obama's almost-immediate recognition of America's back-seat position in the movement.  He and blogger Michael Cohen both point out that the administration worked first and foremost to ensure the safety of the Egyptian people, dealing behind the scenes with the Egyptian military to ensure a "soft landing".

And yet, Obama insisted that democracy now was the only option.

In addition, the language and tone of his speech on Friday is especially noteworthy.  By alluding Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "arc of history" line - the arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice - , and later including MLK's name directly, tied Egypt's narrative with perhaps the most inspiring, and most uniquely American, movement in our history.

He also used words like nonviolence, words coined by Ghandi's revolutionary movement in India, to further connect Egypt's struggle to the ideals of freedom and equality that we all share.  It is both impressive and encouraging to see a US President tying together the complexities of foreign policy and international relations with our most basic values as a people.

Obama's moves over the past few weeks may well be remembered as his greatest foreign policy achievement to date - the ouster of an Arab dictator and the (hopeful) triumph of a true democracy in the Middle East.  Obama's support for the Egyptian people should serve as a warning to other oppressive dictators in the Middle East that, if your people demand democracy, we won't stop them.

But I'd like to remember Obama's speech on Friday as a dramatic shift in the way we speak about democracy in the Middle East.  No longer are we bringing democracy over in tanks and planes, bestowing it upon people whether they want it or not.  Instead, we are giving legitimacy to the democratic urges of much of the Islamic world by allowing them to make the first move and showing that we will help them if asked.

As Lynch points out, Obama has now overseen the removal of two Arab dictators within the past few months - Ben Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt.  Hopefully, with the tone set on Friday and throughout the past few weeks, the arc of history will continue to bend towards justice, towards democracy.

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