Sounds like the Obama administration already found their new man, and I’m sure it’s no coincidence that he returned to Egypt when he did. Here are the last two paragraphs of a NYTimes’ story misleadingly headlined as ‘Obama Presses for Change but Not a New Face at the Top’:
“Another possibility, American officials say, would be a transitional government led by an outsider, perhaps Mohamed ElBaradei, the former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who flew back to Cairo several days ago.
Mr. ElBaradei, who has not lived in Egypt for years, has little connection to the protesters. A frequent critic of United States policy, he could form a caretaker government in preparation for an election. As one American official said, “He’s shown an independence from us that will squelch any argument that he’s doing our bidding.””
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/world/middleeast/30diplo.html?hp