For hours we had been waiting for the speech and everyone was wondering what had been taking so long. It now seems the delay was because the military and Mubarak were trying to hash out some sort of deal that would satisfy everyone.
It does not look like they succeeded.
The speech began with a litany of all the amazing things that he’s done for Egypt, seemingly skipping only the fact he personally dug the Suez Canal.
Then it discussed the same things he said in the last speech that nobody approved of.
Then it talked about punishing ‘whoever it is that did these bad things’ as if it was him.
And finally the big moment…
Muburak has ‘turned over some of the powers of the Presidency’ to the Vice President.
I suppose the idea was that he’d be a powerless figurehead and I suppose that was a compromise that some thought would work.
At the same time it has a Monty Python air about it that he’s leaving but not leaving and he’s giving up but not giving up. I’m just waiting for comments from the Ministry of Silly Talks.
The key questions now being 1) will the protestors be willing to accept this farce where he gets to pretend he’s President but he isn’t and 2) how will the military run the show from now on. Regardless of the fact that ‘some of the powers’ have been shifted to the Vice President the fact is that for all intents and purposes the military junta will be in charge from now until the elections.
The initial crowd reaction is NOT positive, though of course that all depends on which person in the crowd you talk to. But it does not seem like they are very happy with this speech, especially since the reports had all been that he was going to resign and possibly leave. The crowds might have tolerated him resigning but staying in his resort home but I don’t think they are going to accept this idea.
But don’t count on it.