Promise Meets Expiration Date

PHOTO: Absolutely Amazing: #Tahrir Square. Right Now. http://t.co/Gv660spmeG … pic.twitter.com/F4xFIhBA2S RT @BuzzFeed #June30 #Egypt

— Roshanak Taghavi (@Roshanakt) July 1, 2013

Past performance is no guarantee of future results:

Noting that he and Mubarak had just spoken by phone, Obama said Mubarak “recognizes that the status quo is not sustainable and a change must take place.” Repeating earlier calls for an orderly transition in Egypt from Mubarak’s nearly three decades of repressive rule to a fully representative democracy, Obama said the transition “must be meaningful, it must be peaceful and it must begin now.”

“Furthermore, the process must include a broad spectrum of Egyptian voices and opposition parties,” Obama said. “It should lead to elections that are free and fair. And it should result in a government that’s not only grounded in democratic principles but is also responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people.”

— “Obama says Egypt’s transition ‘must begin now,'” CNN, February 2nd, 2011.

President Obama on Monday declined to press Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to leave office, saying that his administration would continue to work with the “democratically elected government” amid violent protests in Cairo.

“It’s not our job to choose who Egypt’s leaders are; we want to make sure all voices are heard,” Obama said Monday during a joint press conference with Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete in Dar es Salaam.

— “Obama 2011: Mubarak Must Go; Obama Today: ‘It’s not our job to choose who Egypt’s leaders are,’” JWF, today.

Update: From Doug Ross, “15 Photos From the Tahrir Square Protests You’ll Never See In Legacy Media.”