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I think he hopes the hardliners will win. This might actually be his dream. If the secularists win, the internal support for bankrolling Hamas and Hezballah will decline, and there will be less pressure on Israel. Obama fears the loss of leverage.

In any event, he’s a bully and a coward, and his actions are shameful. I apologize to the people of Iran as well.

Obama has reduced himself to the level of the nerd who goes to the dance but doesn’t dance, but wants credit for helping with the decorations.

President Steven Quincy Urkel

A week response from our President does not mean they are on their own. They have the support of the US Congress, European leaders, and the American people. We are with the Iranian people – keep fighting!

Yes, the Iranian regime is evil, and yes, the cipher in chief is not only useless, but a hindrance (at best) to progress. That said, I have a few sobering thoughts on Iran’s “green” revolution…

I am cross posting this from comments I made on a couple of other blogs…

When they choose another color as their symbol, then, …..m a y b e, just maybe, I might think their leader would be better. But, till then, please note that “The Color of Islam is Green”

“The color green in Islamic tradition is always linked to the Prophet Muhammad, and is therefore synonymous with Islam itself. It is used ubiquitously throughout the Islamic world, as well as in jihadi imagery, to indicate the Prophet specifically and Islam in general.”
http://www.ctc.usma.edu/imagery/imagery_other.asp

Also, PLEASE pay CAREFUL attention to what Mousavi [their “green” candidate] answered when asked about “wiping Israel off the map.” He said “Right from the beginning I objected to that phrase” [i.e., he does NOT object to THE CONCEPT!], and continues… “the only way out is to refer to the ‘true inhabitants of Palestine’,” [by which he means the “Palestinian” Arabs, which means he subscribes to the lie that Jews have no place in our G-d given Land].

Mousavi is just Ahmadinejad lite (at best).

They are fighting for their right to choose who will rule them, and I support that right. BUT, I am not doing so under any illusions that it will necessarily improve Iran’s behavior, at least not in the short run. Though with more freedom often comes more responsible behavior, and that’s the kind of change I think may be worth hoping for.

Well, this is definitely change from Bush. Bush had his faults, but he certainly would’ve handled this better than President Ferengi there. Heck, even Biden is smart enough to know this situation calls for a tougher approach.

@SpideyTerry:

“Heck, even Biden is smart enough to know this situation calls for a tougher approach.”

LOL!

“You really know how to hurt a guy” — cipher in chief

@SpideyTerry:

When I voted for Obama, I thought he would listen to Biden on Foreign Policy – as that was his strong suit.

I watched the news conference today. He is changed some, perhaps bothered by the new polls. Unfortunately, he just showed us again how insecured he feels. “I am the president” he uttered not once but twice. Hello!!! Everybody knows that so, what is the need to repeat it. If I can pick that up imagine our enemies.

Sarkozy and Merkel figured him up when they met and I think that is why Europe is taking a different approach than the United States.

Lately, Axelrod and Rahm aren’t doing their jobs!. When are they going to realise that to run a country they would need to engage with conservatives to guide them. Stop the arrogance and listen to the people.

In the mean time, let’s keep the Iranian people in our prayers, specially those who aren’t on this earth anymore as a result of the violet clashes.

@Cary: I’m wondering if you have taken the Obama sticker off your car or apt. door yet.

It must be getting embarrassing for someone with your values to keep demonstrating support for a follower who has none.

@Cary:

Ok, you are making progress, but you still have a ways to go…
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09022008/postopinion/editorials/irans_most_useful_idiot__127144.htm

(which is why telling O’Bungler that O’Biden is better than him is like pointing out that Dumb is smarter than Dumber, in case my response to S.T. wasn’t clear to anyone)

Never seen someone (Obama) talk so much, and yet… so little be said.

@Mike’s America:

This is one of three major issues which I am disappointed in Obama’s handling of so far. I’m sure I’m not much different than the non blind supporters of any other President, such as yourself.. That said, the issues I’m referring to are pretty monumental, especially this one.

But I’m in NYC – no car! And I’m on a 4th floor walkup – who’d see what’s on my door?! I did, however, remove the campaign buttons from my jacket and backpack immediately after the election, fyi! So no, I’m not embarrassed – I said from the beginning that his win did not mean a free pass.

I caught a bit of Obama’s speech…Did he call the Iranians in the streets “rioters”?

Well, he also started the press conference by saying:

The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings and imprisonments of the last few days.

I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.

But I guess you’re too caught up in the “battle between good and evil” to notice. With all your invocations of Solidarity, you keep forgetting that Reagan met with the Russians several times throughout that conflict.

@yonason: Green was the color assigned to Moussavi by the government; I agree with you that he’s “Ahmadinejad-lite” but there’s plenty there be angry about without resorting to color-conspiracy-theories.

@RPL: Interesting theory, but how would pressure on Israel weaken if the moderates win (there are no secularists in Iranian politics)? Wouldn’t the pressure increase for them to recognize and deal diplomatically with a more moderate leader?

@jennifer: He said the Iranian government was making false statements about the US supporting riots; read the transcript Mike linked.

@Cary:

OK, you are obviously not a lunatic. But don’t accuse me of being a “blind follower” of anyone. If you knew what I have said about Bush, for whom I voted because Gore and Kerry were far worse, you wouldn’t say such nonsense.

The Aces here also don’t blindly support anyone, which is why none has jumped on me for pointing out the problems with the Iranian “Green Revoluion” which they (and I) support (for reasons of Iranian civil rights). If they were fanatical ideologues, the pirana would have been let loose to feast on me as soon as I posted that.

@yonason:

You misread my post. I wrote “non blind supporter” – meaning people who pay attention and think for themselves regarding their chosen candidate.

Perhaps I should have used a hyphen (“non-blind supporter”)

@trizzlor:

The color of Mousavi isn’t the main point I was making. The ESSENTIAL fact is that he IS very anti-Semitic, and no doubt anti Western (the two go hand in hand). That’s why I gave that second link, from which it can be CLEARLY SEEN that my observations on the color, regardless of who “assigned” it, are appropriate.

And, w/r/t what he sees as Obama’s “tough” rhetoric…

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 Barnes:” Obama Denies the Obvious “
1) Obama’s made the least out of his strong opening statement on Iran. Having used the word “condemn” — for the first time — and “appalling” as well, the president followed up mostly with mush. He ducked the question on whether Iranian diplomats are still invited to July 4 celebrations at American embassies and consulates around the world. This means they are. And it was clear that, at the moment, Obama has no plans to impose any conseqences on the Ahmandinejad/Khamenei regime. His engagement policy, unsuccessful so far, endures.
Also read the post entitled “Leading by Following? “, both at this link…
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Weblogs/TWSFP/TWSFPView.asp

You can always tell a Leftist, as they invariably fixate on the supplementary material and irrelevant details, and strictly avoid dealing meaningfully with the essence of any topic.

@Cary:

Thanks! 😉

@Cary: “This is one of three major issues which I am disappointed in Obama’s handling of so far. “

What are the other two?

Are you prepared to admit you have been had? And that the great promises Obama made of being a centrist were all a lie?

@Mike’s America:

In the interest in keeping this thread on topic, I’ll not name the other issues here. You can email me privately, and I’ll tell you what they are – but I won’t have time for a one on one debate.

I never ever said that I did or would ever agree on everything with Obama. Nor does my agreeing with you on an issue or two mean I’m ready to switch political camps.

You’re stretching, my friend. Let’s not make this about my political allegiances.

And where pray tell is Hillary? Or should we recall that past great negotiator, Madam Albright?

“In the interest in keeping this thread on topic,…” — @Cary: (in resonse to @Mike’s America: )

You do reaize that the thread topic is… “A leader leads. Obama is a follower!”, don’t you?

I.e., anything you have that’s pertinent to Obama’s inability to lead can and should go here.

@Buffalobob:

It Could Be Worse

YOU KEEP YOUR BIG MOUTH SHUT! UNDERSTAND?!

(Say, I wonder which of the two that is, Hillary? , or the Maddam?)

Sorry, BB, but you startled me. I hadn’t thought of that, and when you said it, well, I just lost my head. But we probably don’t have to worry about Hillarity, because she’s too busy trying to pressure Israel to lay down and die to be bothered with anything important. Besides, she’s probaly scared witless by the Iranians.

A leader has to have core principles to lead. Anyone can “say anything”. Don’t listen to what they say watch what they do and Obama has done “some major stuff” in the past 5 months! Does he look like a statesmen who can lead anyone out of a paper bag nationally, internationally? I don’t think so!

where was his teleprompter?

What precisely did Bush’s breast beating, bluff saber-rattling ever accomplish regarding Iran?

This is just more chicken hawk squawking.

On Sunday, GOP leaders including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina charged Obama with “timidity” in the face of a new generation of Iranians that voted against the hard-line mullahs. “The president of the US is supposed to lead the free world, not follow it,” Senator Graham said.

Yet most European analysts say that a patient US approach, and a distancing from the kind of pro-democracy invective that became familiar overseas during the previous US administration, would be more effective in promoting the cause championed by Iranians seeking change.

The Mideast director of IFRI in Paris, Denis Bouchard, says that “if you support the opposition in Iran, you make them an agent of the USA – a very risky policy.”

In a review here today of Obama’s foreign policy, hosted by the French America Foundation, the US president was given good marks by John Negroponte, former US national intelligence director in the Bush administration, and a former French ambassador to Washington, Francois Bujon de l’Estang.

During a question-and-answer session, Richard Burt, a former US ambassador to Germany, said Obama’s engagement policy toward Iran was “high risk” since failure could bring repercussions in Israel and by its US supporters. Mr. de l’Estang, now president of Citigroup in Paris, disagreed, saying that he saw “no downsides” and that a failure would simply lead to different tactics. Mr. Negroponte said he had a “high level degree of confidence” in the Obama team, which got “an extremely good start to foreign policy.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0624/p06s01-woeu.html

– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA

How do you bite the hand that has the ring you just kissed?

One word you will never hear Obama say — FREEDOM

Obama votes “Present”.

Hans Nichols [Los Angeles Times]. Hans.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. If I can just return to the economy more generally. When you were selling the economic stimulus package, you talked and your advisors and economists talked about keeping unemployment below 8 percent. Last week you acknowledged that unemployment is likely to reach double digits, being 10 percent. Do you think you need a second stimulus package?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, not yet, because I think it’s important to see how the economy evolves and how effective the first stimulus is. I think it’s fair to say that — keep in mind the stimulus package was the first thing we did, and we did it a couple of weeks after inauguration. At that point nobody understood what the depths of this recession were going to look like. If you recall, it was only significantly later that we suddenly get a report that the economy had tanked.

And so it’s not surprising then that we missed the mark in terms of our estimates of where unemployment would go. I think it’s pretty clear now that unemployment will end up going over 10 percent, if you just look at the pattern, because of the fact that even after employers and businesses start investing again and start hiring again, typically it takes a while for that employment number to catch up with economic recovery. And we’re still not at actual recovery yet.

Please .. will somebody tell Mr. Obama that there isn’t a chance in hell that there will be a second “stimulus” after the “world class” screwup of a “stimulus” that Congress already passed.

There will be no do overs. Even if Obama has promised Pelosi another.

And I loved the historical revisionism .. they found out after the “stimulus” was passed that the economy had tanked ?? They had been going around before the inauguration saying that it was going to get worse before it got better. Besides, if the economy hadn’t tanked already or was headed that way .. why was the Congress asked to pass a “stimulus” with a $878 billion price tag ?? Hoots and giggles I suppose.

What has happened in Iran is ‘profound’??? The Iranian regime has been like this a long time. They regularly hang people there for things like being gay. It is as if we have never seen this before according to Obama. Please.. This guy is clueless.

@openid.aol.com/runnswim:

Oh, please, Larry. Negroponte? That’s like telling us that the “republican” Colonitis Powell approves of what Obama does. Who cares? Maybe you can find something approving shrilly squeeked by Negroponte’s erstwhile boss, Condoleeza Rice?

Sorry, Larry, but your arguments persist in being superficial, if not downright silly.

My point was that a large percentage of the Iranians don’t have the same level of hatred for the Jews/Israel as the hard liners do, and the hard liners control the purse strings for Hamas/Hezballah. If the hard liners fall, then the new government is likely to try and fix their economy (something the Iranian people want) There’ll be less money to go to funding H&H.

Without funding, terrorism should decline, and maybe the Jews, Arabs, and Iranis can make a relative peace. This would leave Israel intact, and would stick in Obama’s throat, as it’s my belief that he’s Carter II in his hatred for Jews and the state of Israel.

“BO” really thinks the current regime in Iran is going to ‘go along’ and desire to engage in a path of international norms? After they have repeatedly said they want to annhialate Israel and America? After they have gone against the treaties and simply knowing what they believe in?

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@RPL:

more “hope” and “change” ?

Listen carefully to Mousavi,…

…and you will see that he objects only to how they say “wipe Israel off the map,” but not to the concept, and that he subscribes to the myth that the Arabs are the leftitimate inhabitants from whom Jews are stealing the land. Don’t tell me he’s not going to side with them against us.

Even the Shah was a “truther.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQgZ3oLp_WY
And, for a “friend” of Israel, he had a strange way of showing it, by siding with Egypt against Israel in the Yom Kippur War.

more “hope” and “change” ? Maybe THIS time it’ll work?

@yonason: Regarding the error you received. Yes, I got that today as well. Fortunately, unlike some moonbats it went away.

P.S. You pegged Larry… Negroponte?

@Mike’s America:

Thanks. But, I will give Larry credit for this, he may not have much to say, but he says it well.

I swear, Larry… for an intelligent guy, you have a senile vision of history.

For in fact, John Kerry and Howard Dean were on record during the campaign saying Bush was “too soft” on Iran.

Senator John Kerry echoed this sentiment on May 29, 2004, when he told the Washington Post that the Bush Administration has not “been tough on the [Iran] issue … which is the issue of nuclear weaponry, and again just like I said with North Korea, you have to keep your eye on the target.”

Even DNC chair hopeful Howard Dean, allegedly the liberal arm of the Democratic Party, concurs Bush has not been tough enough on Iran. The Forward quotes Dean as saying, “The United States has to … take a much harder line on Iran and Saudi Arabia because they’re funding terrorism.”

In fact, while campaigning for president, Dean argued that President Bush had been far too soft on Iran. In a March appearance on CBS’ Face The Nation, Dean even went so far as to say that “[President Bush] is beholden to the Saudis and the Iranians.”

Then, of course, that was followed by the hysterical Democrat rumour mill that Bush would be bombing and/or invading Iran before he left office… something that was only true in the minds of the truly uneducated. Bush has long been on record of seeing Iran’s future in the hands of the Iranian youth… as proven in these times.

But then, Bush would be lending them support. Just as he did with his media initiative starting in 2005, followed by the “Democracy Program” initiative in 2006 (which we’ve discussed here in prior threads, and that Mike posted on that program being dumped by your hero).

The difference between Bush and Obama is simply this… Bush banked on, and attempted to nurture, the voices of freedom he knew lived in Iran and were slowly becoming the majority of the population. Obama, on the other hand, banks on the current regime holding power and negotiating with them. It’s obvious he has no intention of inspiring the Iranian youth, nor lending them an iota of aid… as that moment of decision is now.

This pretty much disses your “breast beating” comment as being an uneducated, and politically bigoted opinion.

As far as “chicken hawk”, I have to wonder if you have a clue what it means? In the political slang world, it’s a war monger who was a draft dodger. Since you use that term in the generic sense, it’s not applicable. But if you’re suggesting it’s beating the drums of war, then you too suffer from only being able to see extremes and not the spectrum.

As I’ve pointed out in my latest post, and in previous comments, the US has used military aid to many oppressed citizens… and probably many of which you supported when they were lead by your other heros in the Democrat world. The US has also used funding and arming of rebel movements, as well as sanctions… from light to extreme.

What you miss is that America – pre the Eunuch – used to come to the aid of the oppressed who were fighting for freedom in any way they could, and deemed most wise.

Obama’s America stands back and takes a “wait and see”. It matters not to Obama, and to you… the quintessential O’faithful… that the corrupt and oppressive regime holds all the cards, and all the military and police weaponry. Nor do you care that the Iranian citizens don’t have a 2nd Amendment to protect them against exactly what the framers and founders had in mind for Colonial America.

Just how long do you think they can protest in the streets, murdered before the world’s eyes, while the soon to be former most powerful nation in the world.. the US… stands by to see who’ll win the battle? They have no defense against Iranian thuggery.

And apparently, in Obama’s America, they have no friends and support either. Just “mourning”, “appalled” and condemnation lip service. Well that crap don’t deflect bullets.

@RPL:

Point taken. Hamas has also sent fighters into Iran, of course they have a dog in this fight:

‘Hamas helping Iran crush dissent’

Palestinian Hamas members are helping the Iranian authorities crush street protests in support of reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, two protesters told The Jerusalem Post On Tuesday.

–snip–

Hamas formally welcomed incumbent Ahmadinejad’s ostensible reelection victory on Saturday. The Palestinian Islamist movement receives arms and funding from Iran, and its members have often received training there, including in terror tactics and weapons manufacture.

Here we have anti-Hamas/Palestinian comments by protesters in Iran that also supports your pov.

“The most important thing that I believe people outside of Iran should be aware of,” the young man went on, “is the participation of Palestinian forces in these riots.”

Another protester, who spoke as he carried a kitchen knife in one hand and a stone in the other, also cited the presence of Hamas in Teheran.

On Monday, he said, “my brother had his ribs beaten in by those Palestinian animals. Taking our people’s money is not enough, they are thirsty for our blood too.”

It was ironic, this man said, that the victorious Ahmadinejad “tells us to pray for the young Palestinians, suffering at the hands of Israel.” His hope, he added, was that Israel would “come to its senses” and ruthlessly deal with the Palestinians.

When asked if these militia fighters could have been mistaken for Lebanese Shi’ites, sent by Hizbullah, he rejected the idea. “Ask anyone, they will tell you the same thing. They [Palestinian extremists] are out beating Iranians in the streets… The more we gave this arrogant race, the more they want… [But] we will not let them push us around in our own country.”

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1245184851049

Uffda! My post is in the filter. P&T!