Hillary and Barack Thread the Needle

I thought this was about as good a response to the Egyptian crisis as one could hope for out of Washington.

WASHINGTON--Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for an "orderly, peaceful transition" to a "real democracy" in Egypt, and said the U.S. wants to see free and fair elections in Egypt as a result of the antigovernment unrest.

Although U.S. officials have been careful not to call for the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Mrs. Clinton's comments on the Sunday morning news shows seemed to inch the U.S. government toward pushing the Egyptian president to let go of his grip on power.

It would also seem to doom Mubarak. Elections would not be good to him.