Back in the George W. Bush days, some Washington politicians and commentators imagined that the Middle East was like Eastern Europe in 1989: poised to embrace liberal democracy and pro-Americanism at the same time. Obama is facing the much harsher reality that in Egypt and elsewhere, Middle Eastern democracy may be both illiberal and anti-American. Under those nasty conditions, Obama has done the right thing: He’s helped avert bloodshed, he’s supported democratic principles even when they empower people we don’t like, and in so doing, he’s kept open channels of communication with both sides in Egypt’s power struggle.

Presidential candidates are forever telling voters that America can bend the world to its will. But that’s usually nonsense, and it’s especially absurd today, when America has spent the past decade squandering so much power. In the real world, foreign policy often consists of helping to broker outcomes that are merely bad, not catastrophic. And in Egypt over the past 18 months, that’s what Barack Obama has done. It may not fit on a bumper sticker, but it’s what presidents are elected—and reelected—to do.