Jonah, I found a lot to like in the Brooks column, especially how he picked up on the importance of pride in a revolt like Egypt’s. But I think the passage you quote is profoundly unrealistic. It took, what, about five days for the Obama administration to move away from Mubarak? It was supposed to move faster, even though it had no idea what direction the protests would take or who would take over the government in a country that’s been one of our strategic pillars in the Middle East for decades (things we still don’t really know)? Please. It’s easy for an op-ed writer to say we should blithely throw over allies at the first sign of protests in the streets, but no U.S. government will ever act this way. (If Brooks is serious about this, by the way, he should favor the immediate abdication of King Abdullah II of Jordan.)