Mubarak Once Again Refuses To Step Down

So much for all the rumors that Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was going to use his speech today as an opportunity to step down and begin the transition of power to a new regime.

The speech was little more than a rehash of the speech he gave last week. He's busy talking about amending the constitution, which he can abrogate and ignore under his emergency law declaration, so that's not exactly changing the political condition now.

He's again talking about not running for reelection and changing who can run for the position.

In other words, he's continuing to play for time and isn't going to step down.

The crowds in Tahrir Square aren't liking this one bit. Their demands are being completely ignored, and there was no dialogue involved here. This was Mubarak dictating the terms of how the situation will play out by his rules.

To recap, Mubarak intends to stay in power through the elections in September.

When he promised to oversee a peaceful transition of power until September, crowds of protesters erupted in unhappiness if Cairo's Tahrir Square. As he continued to speak, the protesters in Tahrir Square broke into loud chants of: "Leave! Leave! Leave!"

Mr. Mubarak, who said that he would not "listen to diktats coming from abroad," also refused to immediately lift the emergency law that has been in continuous effect since 1981, promising only to clear the way for ending the state of emergency once stability and security is restored.

Let's remind everyone again that Egypt has been under this emergency rule for the entirety of Mubarak's rule, and political and social rights have been repressed every step of the way.

The latest pronouncements aren't changing any of that.

It's about as tone deaf as it gets.

Mubarak has doubled down - since this seems to be a rehash of his last speech.

Now, let's see how the opposition calls.

The wildcard is the army as it always has been.