US abandons Salih

Look at this leaked story in the New York Times:  "The United States, which long supported Yemen’s president, even in the face of recent widespread protests, has now quietly shifted positions and has concluded that he is unlikely to bring about the required reforms and must be eased out of office, according to American and Yemeni officials."  Yet, the US president has not once publicly called on Salih to step down.  But that is not my point: look at the language used.  That the US shifted because they concluded that is not capable of bringing "the required reforms".  You mean, the reforms have been a US agenda and only now the US realized that he can't implement them?  Yet, read the article further and you realize that the US has abandoned Salih because they concluded he won't be able to stay in power:  "While American officials have not publicly pressed Mr. Saleh to go, they have told allies that they now view his hold on office as untenable, and they believe he should leave."