WASHINGTON — Her image has been plastered on banners in Tahrir Square, crossed out with a blood-red X or distorted and smeared with insults. She is too cozy with Egypt's deposed president and the Muslim Brotherhood, the signs say, and should leave the country.
Anne W. Patterson, a press-shy career diplomat who has been American ambassador to Cairo since 2011, suddenly finds herself a target in a dangerous political upheaval, a symbol for angry young Egyptians of America's meddlesome role in their country's affairs.
With the Egyptian military ousting President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday, Ms. Patterson will have to navigate a perilous course between Mr. Morsi's opponents and his enraged Islamist supporters, both of whom have grievances with the United States.
That she has become such a lightning rod for American policy speaks to the legacy of American involvement in Egypt and to the comparatively low level of attention Egypt has received from the Obama administration since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak two and a half years ago — at least until this week's turmoil.
As her bosses in Washington struggle to exert even modest influence over the events in Cairo, Ms. Patterson, 63, has been portrayed as a sinister force by pro- and antigovernment protesters alike: a defender of the status quo as well as a troublemaker who schemes with the opposition.
"She's being lambasted because she's the face of America," said Vali Nasr, a former State Department official who worked with Ms. Patterson when she was ambassador to Pakistan. "But the fact that she's being excoriated instead of the president only represents the fact that the rest of the American administration is absent."
In his first reaction to Mr. Morsi's ouster, Mr. Obama warned of the dangers of violence and tried to steer Egypt's military toward a prompt resumption of democratic rule. But the flurry of White House meetings and phone calls on Wednesday served to underscore the lack of leverage the United States has over Egypt, once a crucial strategic ally in the Middle East but lately just another headache.
Ms. Patterson's problems started on June 18 when she was invited, at a time of mushrooming demonstrations against Mr. Morsi's government, to speak to an audience in Cairo about the United States' relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood. It was, she said, a welcome chance to "set the record straight."
While the United States supported Egypt's democratic development, it still had to deal with those in power, Ms. Patterson said, adding, "I don't think the elected nature of this government is seriously in doubt." Moreover, she said she was "deeply skeptical" that "street action will produce better results than elections."
Even as Ms. Patterson sought to distance the United States from the Muslim Brotherhood, those words marked her as an enemy of the crowds in Tahrir Square, reviving memories of Mr. Obama's early reluctance to cut loose Mr. Mubarak, a longtime ally of the United States.
"She manipulates people and secretly governs the country," Mona Mohammed, 52, a bank employee said of Ms. Patterson at an antigovernment rally. "The ambassador is part of a conspiracy against Egypt and its people," Ms. Mohammed added, clutching a poster with a caricature of Ms. Patterson and the slogan "Hayzaboon, Go Home." (Hayzaboon is Arabic for ogre.)
At a pro-Morsi demonstration across town, Mohammed Amr-Alla, a professor at Al-Azhar University, said: "The ambassador meets with the opposition and supports them. She should not interfere; she needs to watch from a distance."
Both perspectives belie the reality that the United State has far less influence in Egypt than it did a generation ago.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Patterson at the American Embassy in Cairo said she was not available for comment. On Wednesday, hours after Mr. Morsi's ouster, the State Department ordered the evacuation of all nonessential personnel from the embassy.
Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday described Ms. Patterson as candid, tough and committed to democratic change in Egypt. In a statement, Mr. Kerry said she "does her best work in the most challenging places."
Sarah Mousa contributed reporting from Cairo, and Thom Shanker from Washington.
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