As one opposition leader put it before Mubarak’s fall, the Americans “are just waiting to see which side wins and then they will claim to have backed them all along.”
The US president was hoist on a petard 40 years in the making and couldn’t win no matter what he said.
Having supported the stable, but dictatorial, leadership in Egypt for 40 years, we couldn’t just turn on him the instant things started looking bad for him. What if Mubarak hadn’t stepped down? “Oh you’re still in office? You know we’re behind you. 100%. Really. Now, go do this for us.” Also, it would make all the other thugs we prop up in the name of realpolitik nervous. The results could be catastrophic.
On the other hand, it would be churlish for us to not support a democratic uprising since we always go around saying the world should be more democratic.
What’s right for the Egyptian people versus what’s best for America. It would be a tough line to walk for any president.
Not So Fast 