President Barack Obama. Photo: White House.

The Hill – Lawmakers and experts on the Middle East are criticizing President Obama’s hands-off approach toward Egypt in the wake of the political crisis that has paralyzed the Arab world’s most populous country.

They argue that upheaval in Egypt’s streets just two years after the end of the Mubarak era points to a string of mistakes by the administration. Instead of hoping the situation would work itself out after Egyptians elected a Muslim Brotherhood leader to the presidency last year, they say the administration should have conditioned U.S. economic aid to the creation of democratic institutions and pushed back hard against the arrest of U.S. pro-democracy activists last year.