Egyptian People

The news was only a couple of hours old and already the art of the revolution was being replaced with the art of the resignation. For a week on the edge of Tahrir Square, the fledgling League of the Revolution's Artists had churned out drawings and caricatures, poems and plays inspired by Hosni Mubarak's 30 years of autocratic rule. A selection of the works were plastered on the outdoor glass wall of a KFC restaurant outside which they had set up base. President Hosni Mubarak stealing money.

Last week's protests in Cairo and Monday's parliamentary elections represent two faces of post-Hosni Mubarak Egypt, one hopeful and one pessimistic. So far, notwithstanding a huge election turnout, pessimism seems the more realistic attitude. Despite superficial concessions, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces seems determined to exercise power even after a new president and parliament are installed. That explains the protests last week in which demonstrators called on the military to relinquish power sooner rather than later.

President Obama offered prayers for the nation and the people of Egypt, and provided rare reflections on his own faith journey during remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. Obama described how his beliefs were grounded in his mother's spirituality and deepened through his career in public service. His faith, Obama told the gathering of lawmakers and religious leaders, has sustained him during the trials of his presidency, including when he hears his faith "questioned from time to time.

The White House on Wednesday warned the Egyptian government that it should not instigate violence among demonstrators in Cairo and should stop if it had a role in the dangerous confrontations. Speaking to reporters, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs condemned the wave of violence among demonstrators in Cairo. He repeated that the United States wanted to see democratic changes in Egypt and that it was in favor of a transition of power. President Obama, who has spoken about the situation in settings that precluded questions, will be available to the media later this week, Gibbs said.

Not everyone in Egypt wants President Hosni Mubarak to go. While those with revolutionary fervor gathered Tuesday by the tens of thousands a mile down the Nile at Tahrir Square, a small but vociferous band of Egyptians more easily counted by the hundreds marched up and down a two-block stretch of the corniche hours before Mubarak announced that he would not seek re-election. "Hosni Mubarak is our father. We are the Egyptian people," Ahmed Ismail, 33, a teacher and wrestling team captain, screamed into the face of a reporter who was surrounded, pulled and poked at by two dozen citizens eager to have their views heard.

No sooner had President Hosni Mubarak announced that he wouldn't seek reelection than the protesters who brought him low rejected his gesture. As a result, it's still unclear whether Mubarak will leave abruptly or after a period of transition; that, ultimately, will be up to the Egyptian people. But either way, the country appears to be on the verge of a post-Mubarak order. It's not too soon to ponder what that will look like. The first question is whether Mubarak's departure will empower Egyptians by leading to a more representative government in which dissent is tolerated and there are genuine choices for voters.

Now, Egypt's future Re " 'Hope for the future,' " Feb. 12 What is the future for the Egyptian people? I am reminded of Benjamin Franklin's response to the woman who asked him as he emerged from the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, "What do we have?" He replied: "A republic, madam, if we can keep it. " That will now be the challenge for the Egyptian people. America has survived many challenges, wars and even a civil war. The democracy we cherish can get pretty messy at times, yet the Star Spangled Banner still waves, the hope lives on and the dream has never died.

A new day in Egypt Re Hosni Mubarak's resignation, Feb. 12 As a lifelong admirer and student of Egypt, it is a wonderful thing to see Egyptians' determination and success in ridding themselves of a dictator. But the future will be even more difficult. Making a democracy work is harder than opposing a dictator. It will be messy, frustrating and require compromise and hard work ? and there will be no one to blame anymore but the people themselves. Egypt's friends can only advise, support and encourage.

Amid anemic turnout, Egyptians voted Monday on a package of constitutional amendments in a referendum boycotted by opposition groups and criticized by human rights organizations and the U.S. government. Despite a push by President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party to get out the vote, polling stations throughout Cairo saw only a trickle of voters -- many of them party members or civil servants bused in from work.