About Iran
Leaving the economic chatter for others, Obama’s presser became suddenly fascinating when he was caught like a deer in the headlights by an Iran question, and haltingly managed to spit out that while the people of Iran are great, its government has a long history of being “unhelpful.”
My initial reaction, of course, was revulsion. Let’s see. There are the 241 unhelpfully dead Marines in Lebanon, and years of unhelpful instability and thuggishness there, with ongoing interference by Iranian-backed terrorists who have brought war and destruction down on the Lebanese people. There are several hundred unhelpfully dead American soldiers in Iraq and God knows how many unhelpfully dead Iraqis. There is the unhelpful nuclear program. The unhelpful training and arming of Hamas. There was the unhelpful taking of an American embassy, and 444 unhelpful days of humiliation.
“My national security team is currently reviewing our existing Iran policy, looking at areas where we can have constructive dialogue, where we can directly engage with them. My expectation is that in the coming months we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table face to face.”
“There’s been a lot of mistrust built up over the years, so it’s not going to happen overnight.”
Did the president of the United States actually intend in his first press conference to kiss mullah ass? To his credit, Obama managed to summon up a mention of Iran’s support for terrorism and its pursuit of nuclear weapons. He specifically indicated that Iran’s support for Hezbollah and Hamas is not appreciated, a not insignificant observation. He said that when his administration holds face-to-face talks with the murderous, terrorism-supporting, nuke-seeking mullahs, who desire to dominate the region, he’ll let them know that support for terrorism and pursuit of nukes are not acceptable. Unclear about the regional domination part. I’m sure the mullahs, when they have their big primetime moment on equal terms with the Great Satan, will be very impressed, but will have their own thoughts about all that. Obama didn’t indicate how he intends to impress the unacceptability on them, though he said the United States must use all the tools at its disposal, including diplomacy. That may suggest the soft talk comes with a big stick, though a big stick you don’t care to use is basically kindling.
“There’s a possibility, at least, of a relationship of mutual respect and progress.”
He may respect them. But if the mullahs don’t believe that Obama is capable of taking strong stands and backing them up, then unlike 2003 and 2004, when the invasion of Iraq got their attention,* chances that the respect will be mutual or that there will be any progress are dim.
* Things went south with Iran in 2005, 2006 and 2007, when Iran sensed weakness and saw an opening. It was a miscalculation. America was resilient and adapted. A free and increasingly stable Iraq is indicating it doesn’t care to be a vassal state in a new Persian empire. A strong American alliance can ensure it does not become one. A determined effort in Afghanistan will show Iran that American means business, and that America, going forward, remains a force to be reckoned with. A force that, with European and the United Nations cooperation, does not intend to see any more nuclear proliferation in the region, particularly among terrorism-exporting nations. A contained Iran might eventually become an Iran that makes better choices and can reclaim its place as a productive and cooperative nation in the region and in the world.
OK, I’ll get off the soapbox.
Althouse and Malkin liveblog the big press conference.
The Other McCain is malaise-blogging it.
Riehl on the disingenuous both-wayism.
Gateway on the fearmongering, rates the press, throws in vid.
Hot Air’s open thread: “If we don’t spend one trillion dollars then the terrorists have won.”
Tigerhawk with some style notes, points out that Obama was being a little obvious about refering to his set list of reporters and wonders how you win placement. That and shorten up the answers.
Hinderaker at Powerline takes the time to skewer a performance in which he judges “those who weren’t paying close attention probably thought Obama made a decent case.” To include much of the press corps, I’d hazard:
Exhibit AP, an alysis by everyone’s favorite Obamist news agency, which has no problem with Obama blaming everything on the Republicans and blowing them off, and calls it a display of “determined humility and resolve.”
OK, any questions? You can just ask Surber, who has figured out why Obama is sticking to the failed policies he keeps denouncing. And a few other things.
Mainstream liveblogging: The Atlantic’s Ambinder. NYT’s The Caucus.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:26 pm on Monday, February 9, 2009
6 Responses to “About Iran”
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February 9th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Obama, is a disgrace. I don’t know quite how to put it, mainly because I’m not a learned as you, Jules.
Would it be, the stupidity of arrogance or the arrogance of stupidity?
February 10th, 2009 at 12:49 am
It’s the arrogant stupidity of arrogantly stupid, El Cid.
February 10th, 2009 at 2:41 am
Not so fast off that soapbox!
Obama completely whiffed the most interesting parts of the question: “Will your timetable be affected at all by the Iranian elections? And are you getting any indications that Iran is interested in a dialogue with the United States?”
Well, maybe not completely, because I suppose we could take this as a “no” on indicator front: “Now it’s time for Iran to send some signals that it wants to act differently as well, and recognize that even as it has some rights as a member of the international community, with those rights come responsibilities.” Wonder how long it will take the Prez to break Iran of their bad habits, once he’s brought those ideological slackers here at home to heel.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:27 am
[...] the possibility of destabilizing the region." Unhelpful? Possibility? Jules Crittenden of the Boston Herald wrote this last night: "My initial reaction, of course, was [...]
February 10th, 2009 at 8:05 am
I have said several times that, when this administration has passed into history, those of us old enough to remember the Carter Administration will gaze back on those halcyon days of economic prosperity and grand foreign policy, because, by comparison to what we currently have, that’s exactly what they’ll seem to be.
February 10th, 2009 at 8:41 am
[...] and Jules Crittenden, in an Obama wrap up of sorts, notes the POTUS isn’t unaware of Iran’s support for [...]