Obama: This is Just the Beginning for Egypt
Updated: 4:30PM ET
In the wake of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's resignation on Friday, President Obama celebrated the Egyptian people's "hunger for change" - but emphasized that the nation had a long, and potentially difficult, road to democracy ahead.
"This is not the end of Egypt's transition," said Mr. Obama, in a press conference on Friday afternoon. "It's a beginning. I'm sure there will be difficult days ahead, and many questions remain unanswered."
The president urged peace and unity among Egyptians in the coming weeks, and lauded the Egyptian military for having served "patriotically" and "as a caretaker to the state" throughout the weeks of turbulent protests leading up to Mubarak's ouster.
He also emphasized, however, the military's increased responsibility in the coming months, as the nation attempts to build a democracy.
Special Section: Anger in the Arab World"The military has served patriotically and responsibly as a caretaker to the state and will now have to ensure a transition that is credible in the eyes of the Egyptian people," Mr. Obama said. "That means protecting the rights of Egypt's citizens, lifting the emergency law, revising the constitution and other laws to make this change irreversible, and laying out a clear path to elections that are fair and free."
(Watch President Obama's remarks at left.)
"Above all, this transition must bring all of Egypt's voices to the table, for the spirit of peaceful protest and perseverance that the Egyptian people have shown can serve as a powerful wind at the back of this change," he continued.
Comparing the success of Egypt's democracy movement to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the president celebrated "the moral force of non-violence" in affecting change in the nation's troubled political system, and bending "the arch of history toward justice once more."
"There are very few moments in our lives where we have the privilege to witness history taking place," he said. "This is one of those moments. This is one of those times."
"This is the power of human dignity, and it could never be denied," he added. "Egyptians have inspired us, and they've done so by putting the lie to the idea that justice is best gained through violence.
Noting the speed and force of the movement, Mr. Obama urged Egyptians -- and particularly the nation's youth -- to apply the same "entrepreneurial spirit" and "ingenuity" to building up Egypt's democracy and economy as they had, in recent weeks, to pressing for Mubarak's removal.
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"Over the last few weeks, the wheel of history turned at a blinding pace as the Egyptian people demanded their universal rights," he said. "We saw young Egyptians say, 'For the first time in my life, I really count. My voice is heard. Even though I'm only one person, this is the way real democracy works.'"
"I'm also confident that the same ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit that the young people of Egypt have shown in recent days can be harnessed to create new opportunity, jobs and businesses that allow the extraordinary potential of this generation to take flight," Mr. Obama said.
The president emphasized that the United States would continue to see Egypt as a "friend and partner."
"We stand ready to provide whatever assistance is necessary, and asked for, to pursue a credible transition to a democracy," he pledged.
"Today belongs to the people of Egypt, and the American people are moved by these scenes in Cairo and across Egypt because of who we are as a people, and the kind of world that we want our children to grow up in," Mr. Obama said. "The word 'Tahrir' means liberation. It is a word that speaks to that something in our souls that cries out for freedom. And forever more it will remind us of the Egyptian people, of what they did, of the things that they stood for and how they changed their country and in doing so changed the world."
