The Wall Street Journal thinks President Obama has been a lily-livered Carterite on the matter of the Iran protests. They would prefer that he denounced the Iranian regime's presumed theft of the election, and publicly side with the protesters.
This is nuts. I have been pleased by the rhetorical restraint Obama has shown in this matter. Obviously, this is not because I favor the Iranian regime; in fact, I hope the street protesters succeed in taking it down, and I am pretty sure Obama wouldn't be displeased by that result. It is impossible for me to understand how the Grand Vizier of the Great Satan publicly taking the side of the street protesters would help that cause. In fact, it would be a great gift to the regime, which could brand the Moussavi protesters as agents of America.
Daniel Larison talks sense about those who want Obama to be a crusader on this point. Excerpt:
In other words, he has so far acted the part of something very much like a responsible statesman. He has not acted like a glory-hounding demagogue who would rather appease his domestic audience with tough-sounding rhetoric that works to harm American interests throughout the region. ... Obama does seem to understand that foreign policy is a matter of state interests, and that Iran and America have some shared interests regardless of the shape of the government in Tehran. His foremost responsibility is to secure American interests, and reasonably enough this involves rapprochement with Iran, so you'd better believe that he is not going to put the cause of Mousavi ahead of that of the United States. If Nixon could go to China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution, which was a hundred times more brutal and appalling than anything we have seen in Iran over the last few days, Obama can and should persist in engaging Iran.
Obama's State Department contacting Twitter and asking them to delay scheduled maintenance on the system so the Iranian Twitter network could keep going during the post-election turmoil probably did more to forward the cause of reform in Iran than anything the president might have said.
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Americans need to recognize that many things in the world are not all about us.
Would that it were so, but for good or ill, we are injected into the area, so we do have an effect. Again, I think Obama's approach is a scale of magnitude better than the hysterics of the last administration, but he is in a position where his words would have a good effect. He doesn't have to outright support Mousavi, and I would advise against it, but he can call fraud and brutality what it is.
It's not as if this change will tremendously alter Iranian policies...
Yes, it will because it will introduce a new factor into Iranian politics, a more secular and reforming urban populace. The change probably won't be sudden, but there will be a shift.
I think Obama has taken the right course. I wonder if some neocons really want the scary guy to stay in office because that fuels the notion of "bomb Iran" A less agressive Iranian govt makes it harder to justify that sort of position.
I think too that if Mousavvi gets in power because of the support of these protestors it becomes harder for him to deny their aspirations. A government that has had a clear lesson in what happens when you violate the will of the people is more likely to support reform. Certainly not radical reform - but a less belligerant posture towards the world.
Personally - it is inspiring to see these people taking such risks in defense of their own desire for more honest more transparent government.
How does granola and craftman style homes fit into this discussion? Can we talk about granola?
Shaun said "It is obvious that in Starr's universe, everything revolves around the U.S". Well, yeah: I'm an American and we're talking about our foreign policy vis a vis one of our greatest threats.
I'd just like Obama to step up and say some encouraging things to the people on the street who want their dam votes counted. I don't expect him - or want him - to start sending over guns and tanks. Sheesh.
What you are taking as Obama's realism I am viewing as another instance of him refusing to make tough choices (or judgments) ad instead just saying "present".
The hardliners want to turn this into a fight between Islam and The West. Instead, it's a fight between hardliner thugs and reformers (or at least less-hardliners). It's just insane for the Right to argue that Obama should give the hardliners the fight the hardliners want.
The Iranian people don't need Obama to lead them. They need Obama to stay out of their way. Lasting change for the good in Islamic countries must come from within.
Obama doesn't ave the power to fix Iran through harsh words. It's funny how some on the Right criticize Obama for having a Jesus complex, but then are astonished when he acts with humility.
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