Obama steps carefully in response to Egypt.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is proceeding cautiously in its response to the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, straddling a line between supporting democracy while declining to take sides.

But the policy choices aren’t easy: Denounce the ouster of Morsi outright, and the U.S. could be accused of propping up a ruler who’s lost the public’s support — a prospect with eerie echoes of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, whom the U. S. supported for decades before the 2011 revolution that cleared the path to power for Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood. Look the other way, and the U.S. could be accused of fomenting dissent or lose credibility on its commitment to the democratic process.

The administration is acting as if it accepts what happened in Egypt — and actually believes it could turn out for the best. At the same time, officials are attempting to keep their distance, laying down markers for what they want to see in the long term while leaving it up to the military to make sure that happens.

But the White House may also be concerned that in the short term, the situation could spiral out of hand, with the military using the clamoring in the streets as an excuse to confront the Muslim Brotherhood with excessive force. In bringing up U.S. aid in conversations with Egyptians without cutting it off, the U. S. leaves itself room to escalate the situation if need be, but also to work with Egypt’s new government if it moves in the right direction.

In his first, carefully crafted comments after Morsi was forcibly removed from office, President Barack Obama said the U.S. would “not support particular individuals or political parties,” acknowledging the “legitimate grievances of the Egyptian people” while also observing that Morsi, an Islamist, won his office in a legitimate election.

He notably stopped short of labeling Morsi’s ouster a coup, leaving himself some wiggle room to navigate a U. S. law that says the government must suspend foreign aid to any nation whose elected leader is ousted in a coup d’etat.

But Obama did say he was ordering the government to assess what the developments portended for aid to Cairo.

The U.S. considers the $1.5 billion a year it sends Egypt to be a critical U. S. national security priority.