Will Egypt Complete Obama's Transformation?

Into Jimmy Carter?

As Egypt’s regime totters on the verge of collapse, President Obama is looking less like Ronald Reagan and more like the Gipper’s predecessor, Jimmy Carter. The turmoil in Egypt is markedly similar to the revolution that gripped Iran 33 years ago. Egypt may be to Mr. ObamaIran was to Mr. Carter. what

President Carter’s emphasis on human rights in foreign policy set the stage for the 1979 revolt in Iran. Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Carter adopted a tone of moral superiority to the policies that had preceded him. When small-scale demonstrations began to break out in Iran in the fall of 1977, the State Department simply chastised the Shah’s government, which had been a firm U.S. ally, to get ahead of reform or get out of the way. This emboldened the oppositionists, a mix of liberal reformers and radical followers of the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini, who kept up the pressure. 

A year later, the situation had deteriorated to the point where the Shah’s regime was hanging by a thread. Crowds were in the streets, the security forces were crumbling, and the Ayatollah Khomeini’s influence was growing. Mr. Carter abandoned human-rights posturing and informed the Shah that he should do what he needed to keep order. By then, it was too late