I don't think words about democracy would have any bearing on protests in Egypt and elsewhere. Young people there are fed up with unemployment, corruption, and abuse of power. It may be obvious to us that the fix to those things is democracy, but not everybody agrees. It is not clear what the protesters want, even if those who speak for them speak of democracy. Do the protesters want a different form of government, or do they want to be ruled undemocratically by a decent, benevolent regime? Once again, it seems obvious to us that it is foolish to hope for such a thing, but people across the world have placed their faith in that hope for thousands of years, and even in the United States, more people are concerned with the need to elect "good" politicians who can be trusted than in pushing for transparency and accountability.

Edit: Actually I am completely baffled that the author of that article refers to these protests as "democracy movements." It seems like a very narcissistic assumption for Americans to make. These protests may be revolts against corrupt and repressive governments, but so was the revolution in Iran in 1979.