White House scrambles to regain message on Egypt

WASHINGTON — Struggling to clear up conflicting messages that frustrated even President Barack Obama, the White House worked aggressively on Tuesday to dispel any notion it was easing pressure on President Hosni Mubarak or abandoning those protesting for freedoms.

Much of the White House ire centered on comments made by Frank Wisner, the retired U.S. diplomat who was dispatched by Obama to help nudge Mubarak out of office, but then stunned Obama officials by saying Saturday that Mubarak’s continued leadership was critical as Egypt worked through reforms. Obama himself showed his frustration about what Wisner said, officials said privately.

Yet part of the confusion has stemmed from the government’s own message, too. Comments by some State Department officials have been widely interpreted as diverging from the White House stand, particularly by raising doubts about whether it was wise for Mubarak to resign now, as protesters in his repressed nation demand.

What’s more, White House officials were frustrated about some of the news reporting on events. The overall concern was that the narrative was getting cloudy and certainly not focused on the events in Egypt.

So on Tuesday, when Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked about State Department comments on the risks if Mubarak leaves hastily, he bristled.

“I want to be clear,” Gibbs said. “I speak for the president of the United States of America. We are not here to determine who leads Egypt and when they lead Egypt.”

The White House also released a firm statement saying Vice President Joe Biden, in a call to Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, made clear again that the United States wants an orderly transition to a new day in Egypt that is “prompt, meaningful, peaceful, and legitimate.”

Responding to the political upheaval in his country, Mubarak has declared that he will not seek re-election in September, but the pace and course of events until then continue to drive debate and force the U.S. to respond.

Gibbs, Obama’s spokesman, said the president had not eased his stand that Mubarak should move now toward a transition to a new government.

The genesis of the breakdown in unified messaging on Egypt appears to go back to a Saturday, Jan. 29 Tweet from State Department spokesman P.J Crowley that was intended as a response to Mubarak’s wholesale dismissal of his cabinet a day earlier that Washington regarded with suspicion.

“The Egyptian government can’t reshuffle the deck and then stand pat. President Mubarak’s words pledging reform must be followed by action,” Crowley said.

Some officials now refer to that as “the Tweet heard round the world.”

By the time that message appeared on Twitter on that Saturday, Mubarak had already taken his next step by naming a number two, something long-demanded by the United States, and Crowley’s comment was interpreted as the first U.S. reaction to Suleiman’s appointment.

The White House was furious, officials said, and Crowley was ordered not to post potentially controversial messages without clearing them first.

Appearing a day later on all five Sun

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