obama tiptoes away from mubarak

The US government is clearly in a very awkward position vis-a-vis Egypt. For a long time Egypt has been not only strongest ally in the region against Al Qaeda. They have also kept the peace with Israel for over 30 years. With over $ 1.4 billion a year, only Afghanistan Iraq and Israel get more aid dollars. The US had been thinking about increasing aid to Egypt. According to a 2009 wikileaks diplomatic cable,

Our goal remains to widen our military cooperation
discussion beyond the annual flow of Foreign Military Financing.

Since the riots broke, the US has tried to distance itself somewhat from Mubarak
Hilary Clinton talked about the need to allow the people of Egypt to peacefully assemble and access to social media such as facebook and twitter. Their most consequential action to date has been their decision to review the US's aid package to Egypt. In other areas, the Obama administration has hedged its bets. It has balked at forcibly denouncing the violence. Also by advocating reform as opposed to the revolution wanted by the people, the United States reveals its preference for a slow democratization process over an uncontrolled revolution. The bottom line is that the US will probably be a bystander during this revolt. The opposition will not have US support like they did in Tunisia.