I do question, though, the utility of making a grand speech in Egypt aimed at signalling a more honest, less manipulative United States, without at least addressing the means by which we’ve achieved such an abysmal reputation in the first place. That’s the problem with talking about making change: at some point, you’ve gotta do more than talk

The U.S. relationship with Egypt is one of those elements of American foreign policy that, like the War on Drugs or the Cuba embargo, many people acknowledge is flawed, but has become such an entrenched part of our international posture that it’s really difficult to change. Egypt provides strategic benefits to the U.S. and is a comparative bulwark of political stability in a very difficult region. At the same time, America’s close relationship with the Mubarak regime – which, Obama’s diplomatic platitudes aside, is authoritarian and repressive (former CIA agent Robert Baer once said of terrorism suspects “If you want them to be tortured you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear – never to see them again — you send them to Egypt.”) – does much to poison America’s reputation and popularity in the Middle East, greatly complicating our long-term objectives there.