The Obama administration is reviewing America’s annual $1.3 billion aid package to Egypt as the White House walks a careful line between siding with an embattled ally and supporting a popular uprising demanding democratic reform. For several days, the administration remained circumspect while demonstrators gathered in Egypt’s major cities, protesting poverty and government corruption and demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.

Critics have faulted President Obama for being slow to embrace the protesters’ message. But the administration has been more concerned with maintaining stability in the volatile region, and avoiding any appearance of stage-managing the crisis.