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what do you guys think of this? i've noticed a clear pattern with obama and his admin when it comes to international crises. during the georgia crisis, the iranian protests, the korean crisis, and now with egypt, he has consistently seemed to tip-toe around the issue, not wanting to wade in. at first he comes out urging for calm on all sides, and this seems to stir up controversy here in the states. the people are like, wait a minute, there is a clear wrong side, and a clear right side, what are you talking about? and then over the course of a week or so, he slowly ratchets up the rhetoric, ultimately coming out and condemning the aggressor. some would call this a calculated approach, but to me, he never seems to have his finger on the pulse of the issue, or public sentiment here at home. and the whole time, he seems to come out behind the 8 ball. thoughts?

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I think Obama's problem in this regard is he likes to let things simmer for a while, let people think he's not on top of the situation, and then come out with "The Big Historic Speech" to get everything back on track and make people go "wow" at what a wonderful statesmanlike figure he is.  He's also a bit too much into deliberation before he speaks - it's not a bad thing to consider your options before you say anything, but sometimes as "Leader of the Free World" you have to seen to be ahead of the pack sometimes.  

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decisiveness?

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Obama's a guy who has lots of experience as a community organizer.  So he could probably lead a protest like this.  But prior to his election, he has little or no experience in diplomacy.  So we see things like him bowing to the Saudi King, snubbing the UK and I dont think he has any real idea on what to do about the Egyptian protests.

Better to leave this up to the State Dept and Hillary.  Hillary probably knows Mubarak personally.