Obama and Egypt's president Mubarak
Answering questions submitted by YouTube users, Obama says the Egyptian government should move forward with economic and political reforms. But he asks both the government and protesters to refrain from violence.
January 27, 2011, 1:09 p.m.
Reporting from Washington —
President Obama called on Egypt to refrain from violence and move forward with economic and political reforms in response to unprecedented nationwide protests against the government.Obama's first public comments on the situation came in a wide-ranging Q-and-A session streamed live Thursday onYouTube, in which the president fielded questions submitted by YouTube users, part of a post-State of the Union messaging push from the White House.
Obama said he has consistently pressured Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to pursue reform, which he called "critical to the long-term well-being of Egypt."
"My main hope right now is that violence is not the answer in solving these problems in Egypt," Obama said. "The government has to be careful about not resorting to violence. And the people on the streets need to be careful about not resorting to violence. And I think that it is very important that people have mechanisms in order to express legitimate grievances."
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