Silence from U.S. on Egypt is Deafening

The sounds of silence. As Simon and Garfunkel so eloquently said. The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls. And tenement halls. The dispossessed in Egypt have found their voice. A million people. Probably more peaceably demonstrating in the streets of Cairo. People who threw off the shackles of fear and said our time has come. But, what of the voice of the United States. The White House says it supports the demonstrators. Will it dare say publicly that Hosni Mubarak must step down? It's prudent perhaps for the Obama administration to hold its tongue. Who knows what a post Mubarak Egypt will look like. Martin Luther King Jr. once said our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. In Egypt, the silence from the United States is deafening.

Just a minute, I'm Harry Smith, CBS News.