The most charitable interpretation (from Obama's perspective) would be that the US never had any control over events there, and never had any options.
And in a sense that would be correct: Mubarak was going to fall soon in any case, either because of something like what has just happened, or because he's terminally ill.
If that's true, then Obama's statements amount to nothing more than mere posturing, for domestic political benefit (and, of course, to stroke his own narcissism).
A more interesting alternative, is that Obama is running open loop here, and his administration is not on the same page with him.
Oprah Called for RESPECT for OBAMA
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0211/just_a_little_bit_868941d7-3826-4a53-9390-43550fabcd93.html
Did she do this when they made a movie about killing our last President?