Despite such claims of concerted U.S. pressure on Mubarak, Egypt experts and human rights advocates say neither the Bush nor the Obama administrations ever mounted a full-court press for greater democratic freedoms in Egypt. Other priorities, such as counterterrorism or the Middle East peace process, always diluted American efforts to promote democracy and human rights. And Mubarak has skillfully parried the U.S. attempts by warning that too much freedom could unleash Islamic fundamentalism through the ascendance of a key opposition group in Egypt: the Muslim Brotherhood…

Bush had trouble making this case abroad as reports emerged that the U.S.’s war on terror depended in part on cooperation with despotic Arab regimes, including some that received detainees via extraordinary rendition. (The man who oversaw U.S. prisoner transfers to Egypt, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, was named by Mubarak on Saturday as Egypt’s new vice president.)…

When Obama came into office, though, there were few signs of an unrelenting focus on human rights and democracy issues. Early comments from administration officials suggested that the subject would be de-emphasized, at least in public. And Mubarak seemed to be an early beneficiary of the new president’s effort to invigorate the Middle East peace rocess.