Kairos in the Egyptian Political Crisis

What's interesting to observe, as the Egyptian political crisis continues to unfold, is how delicate many of the involved parties tend to be in their speech, almost downplaying the significance of the crisis. Besides the actual Egyptians, rioting and screaming in the streets of course.

First, we have President Mubarak, who hilariously stated that he decided not to "run" for "re-election" this September, as if he merely has low approval rating, and not actually facing a violent revolution against his thirty year dictatorial rule.

But more interestingly we have President Obama and other members of the White House administration. Since the US is now facing the awkward situation of having a popular uprising against their backed dictator, whom they've funneled about a billion dollar a year foreign aid, the US can't just stay by Mubarak or give their support to the protesters. First, Obama urged "restraint" for both sides. But now that it seems definite that Mubarak will soon be overthrown, Hilary Clinton has said that she wants an "orderly transition to democracy" from Mubarak.

What all of this illustrates is the principle of kairos. How a person's speech must be adapted for present conditions.  Since it was obviously in the US's interest to keep Mubarak in power,  Obama tried to merely diffuse the situation by urging "restraint". But when it became apparent that Mubarak would not be able to stay in power, the US had to begin to voice support for the protestors, otherwise it would look like the US does not support democracy. At the same time, the US has not given vocal support to the protestors, due to the fear in the US that the revolution will overthrow the secularist government and replace it with an Islamist government which will attack Israel.

While it may be morally dubious that the US is not vocally supporting democracy, this whole event does illustrate the importance of being flexible in your speech and being able to adapt to changing conditions. If you don't adhere to the principle of kairos, you could find that your rhetoric harms rather than helps your cause, or could make you look bad in the future.