It looks like a military coup against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is underway, with communications with the president cut off and tanks on the move outside Cairo.

Predictably, the Obama administration's efforts to practive a "nuanced" foreign policy end up leaving America worse off than it could otherwise be. While trying to resist any impression that it is involved in Egypt's affairs, it is projecting the image of indifference to the plight and the wishes of the Egyptian people. As a result, anti-Obama sentiment (and, by extension, anti-American sentiment) is in evidence (photos courtesy of Doug Ross):

Yes, Morsi was elected through a democratic process -- and The White House was quick to congratulate him for it, despite his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. But he represents the imposition of Islamist rule in Egypt that threatens the stability of the Middle East and the foreign policy objectives of the United States ... and the protests calling for his ouster dwarf anything that was seen before Obama pressured our ally, Hosni Mubarak, to resign in response to them.

It raises the heartening possibility that there are many, many Egyptians who would rather live free than suffer under the yoke of hardcore Islamist rule.

Perhaps the Obama administration is lucky enough to be getting a do-over in Egypt. Let's hope they don't mess it up (again). How about some full-throated articulation of the (classical) liberal principles we espouse -- principles very different from what Egyptians have gotten from Morsi?