A post by Maynard
This press conference exchange has gotten a lot of focus, and Tammy spoke of it on Tuesday’s show. Here is the full transcript.
It’s obvious to any observer that Obama’s tune on Iran has changed and changed again. If you’ve followed the news in recent days, you know this.
To give context, here’s Obama’s full answer to a (rare) challenging question:
Major Garrett: In your opening remarks, sir, you said about Iran that you were appalled and outraged. [Pause] What took you so long?
OBAMA: I don’t think that’s accurate. Track what I’ve been saying. Right after the election I said that we had profound concerns about the nature of the election, but that it was not up to us to determine what the outcome was.
As soon as violence broke out — in fact, in anticipation of potential violence — we were very clear in saying that violence was unacceptable, that that was not how governments operate with respect to their people.
So we’ve been entirely consistent, Major, in terms of how we’ve approached this. My role has been to say the United States is not going to be a foil for the Iranian government to try to blame what’s happening on the streets of Tehran on the CIA or on the White House, that this is an issue that is led by and given voice to the frustrations of the Iranian people.
And so we’ve been very consistent the first day, and we’re going to continue to be consistent in saying this is not an issue about the United States, this is about an issue of the Iranian people.
What we’ve also been consistent about is saying that there are some universal principles, including freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, making sure that governments are not using coercion and violence and repression in terms of how they interact with peaceful demonstrators. And we have been speaking out very clearly about that fact.
This exemplifies a general problem with Mr. Obama: He’s quick to suggest that people not believe their own senses. He cites irrelevant details in support of a false statement (which is a fancy way of saying he’s a clever but blatant liar). Sure, the nastiness in Iran has gone down a path that was not entirely anticipated. Sure, the changes on the ground may justify changes in the American response. But none of the fundamentals have changed: In particular, that Iran is run by evil thugs that are not going to let go without a bloody fight. That’s the reality that Obama has twisted and turned to evade.
There are legitimate questions about what the president of the “Great Satan” can effectively do to push Iran in the right direction. I’m not having that debate right now. I simply want to highlight what we’ve just observed: Events have illuminated that Obama’s “make nice with tyrants” mindset has become an embarrassing display of personal and national impotence. This doesn’t surprise some of us, but others are having a rude awakening. America looked at Iran and then looked at Obama, and a sense of frustration and even disgust started to arise. So Obama changed gears — and when someone noticed the switch, he tells us we didn’t see what we saw.
Obama figures we’ll quickly forget he was behind the curve and flip-flopping when leadership was called for. So far he’s gotten his way, but perhaps this will become harder as the nation awakens.
Obama is splitting hairs while the Basij are splitting skulls. He goes to great pains to emphasize this is an issue for the Iranian people while the Iranian people are suffering real pain and death.
It isn’t a matter of the American President striking the right balance. To paraphrase Charles Krauthammer, there is no one with the intelligence to tie his own shoe who doesn’t understand who the villain is in Iran and it isn’t the United States of America.
It is clear by the manner in which Obama addresses unrestrained thuggery against defenseless innocent people that it is a chore for him. It’s a distraction from the glorification of himself as savior of the world and doing things his way. Obama sells the elixir of a harmonious world of peace, love and understanding. That is the powerful stuff of religion. It’s useful when your sales pitch for political power is hope and change. We all hope the world will change because the most common manifestation of power is thugs slaughtering the innocent. Obama himself has already displayed a tendency toward strong-arm tactics and a thirst for absolute power. His lack of sincere outrage in the face of blood on the streets in Tehran is not a measure of his statesmanship. It is a sign of an empty soul and a very chilling addition to our understanding of the man who wants to rule America.
Who knows, maybe inadvertently Obama will change something for the good. Maybe America’s critics will sober up when they realize what could happen if America drops out.
Not having feet on the ground, intelligence assets, goes back as far as Stansfield Turner’s (Carter’s DCI) stripping HUMINT (Human Intelligence) from the Middle East. It takes a lot to draw agents into our sphere of interest when we drop them cold; or worse subject their information (which is classified and traceable by deduction) to Congressional Overlords who quickly buy ‘white space’ in the press to make policy statements.
But, there is something that deserves note in this crisis. There might even have been more of them if a generation ago, during the Iran/Iraq War was on, many thousands of youth at that time didn’t run ahead of troops exploding mines (in the name of the Islamic Republic). These young people we see in the streets are likely the nieces and nephews of some of those “martyrs”, and they have quite a different view of the world.
Some of you may have noted in the news reports that the Baseji parochial Persian) thugs were backed up by Arabic speaking thugs which may likely be Hezbollah. (Back from a failed effort to capture an election in Lebanon. Hell, what else do they have to do?)
As for how Obama is comporting himself through all this. When there’s the least sign of anything positive, he’ll take credit. Cairo will be ranked along with Gettysburg and Berlin. World-wide reports of tingling leg syndrom will be rampant. My own interpretation of Cairo is: “He shot an arrow into the air..”..’and missed’.
Something organic has emerged in Teheran, not of his doing, which his propagandists can’t (yet..at this moment.) spin. And he’s seething.
Maynard,
As I sat and watched this exchange ex tempore I exploded at this president’s, our President’s, snarky truculence. When will this MalNar, to use Tammy’s term, realize that he represents the history and values of this nation and not merely his own. Rather than nailing himself to the cross of this country’s past sins and transgressions ad infinitum perhaps he could, even just this one time, use the office of the Presidency to herald the basic human and civil rights that each of us are guaranteed under our own Constitution. Could this self-aggrandizing accommodationist please, finally, condemn these soul-stomping, freedom-crushing totalitarian regimes for their attempts to obliterate the Individual and his her own personal liberty from the face of the earth. He does believe in the sanctity of the Individual and the right to speak freely, particularly when directed at those in power. Doesn’t he?