Posted on 06/23/2009 9:05:59 AM PDT by MaestroLC
No, I’m really not kidding about this. The Washington Post has the story:
But Obama’s shades-of-gray approach rejects comparison to an era when Communist bloc dissidents had virtually no access to the Western media and the world was more neatly divided between a pair of superpowers, not complicated by the set of ambitious regional powers such as Iran that the Obama administration is seeking to manage.
Since taking office, Obama has argued that reclaiming America’s moral authority by ending torture and closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay provides essential diplomatic leverage to influence events in such strategic parts of the world as the Middle East and Central Asia. The speech he delivered to the Islamic world in Cairo eights days before the June 12 Iranian election sought to do that by providing what the president saw as an unvarnished accounting of U.S. policy in Iran, Iraq, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We’re trying to promote a foreign policy that advances our interests, not that makes us feel good about ourselves,” said a senior administration official who, like others, declined to be identified, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
Obama’s approach to Iran, including his assertion that the unrest there represents a debate among Iranians unrelated to the United States, is an acknowledgment that a U.S. president’s words have a limited ability to alter foreign events in real time and could do more harm than good. But privately Obama advisers are crediting his Cairo speech for inspiring the protesters, especially the young ones, who are now posing the most direct challenge to the republic’s Islamic authority in its 30-year history.
This is the most despicable, self-serving, and arrogant spin I’ve seen yet from this White House, and that’s saying something. Obama gave a speech, and suddenly the people of Iran discovered that they’re being ruled by tyrants? Never mind that two weeks passed between the speech and the uprising, and that the very obvious trigger for the unrest was the incompetent manner in which the mullahs rigged the election for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Never mind the fact that this President took a full week to even sound like a watered-down Nicolas Sarkozy, let alone the leader of the free world.
This is very obviously an attempt at damage control. Obama has gotten hammered for staying behind the curve of Western leaders in the defense of liberty, freedom, and human rights. He has preferred to stay on the sidelines in the hope that silence will make the mullahs like him enough to grant him an audience, while Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, and the Brits slam the mullahcracy for its brutal treatment of political opposition. Now, suddenly, Obama wants to claim credit for getting their first with his Cairo speech — which had nothing to do with overthrowing mullahs, and in fact had only a passing mention of democracy as an official US policy in the Middle East.
Obama is so full of himself. And the arrogance is nauseating. It gets more obvious day be day. Even average Americans that don't pay close attention are noticing.
Say nothing, do nothing .... see how things turn out, declare victory and tell the winners “we wuz with ya all along”.
What you would typically expect from someone suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
OK and the rooster thinks that his crowing makes the sun rise.
Perzactly.
The big question - did he decide who the winners are prematurely?
obama is a disgrace for EVERYTHING our great country has stood for
Give me a ****** break....
So the mullahs propaganda blaming us is justified then right?
Exactly. Events (by this administration) are all viewed as which outcomes would benefit them politically.
That is pretty laughable.. I suppose two new democracies in the neighboring countries had nothing to do with it.. or all the covert operations from the U.S. encouraging democracy, or George Bush’s endless speeches about how important democracy is for the middle east.. and iran in particular..
but rather Obama’s one tepid speech was the key..
Everything?
Surely there must be something?
*ponders*
*ponders some more*
I got nuthin'...
It does sound a lot like Clinton claiming credit for every good thing, while hiding behind others for all the bad things ...
On the other hand, Iranians aren’t stupid and they have internet access. They can see we elected a guy who had to assure Americans that he wasn’t a moose-limb, and they see us telling him & his crowd to *get bent* every day, on FR and other sites.
Maybe they finally got tired of mullahs telling them to vote, shut up and go back to banging their heads on the ground five times and day.
Free Republic deserves the credit!
I can feel my recent lunch “up rising” as I read about BO.....
Obama should NOT be getting credit for what is happening in Iran. He’s SUCH a hypocrite and so full of crap....
When are the people going to wake up to what he truly is? When????
It’s a common characteristic of illogical minds to assume that if EventB happened after EventA then EventA must have caused EventB.
But, the White House is following a policy of neutrality, and will still “negotiate” with the regime if it suppresses the protests.
Neda DIED and Obamessiah went out for Ice Cream! Then he invited her killers, with blood dripping from their hands to JOIN HIM for barbeque at the White House on July 4th! Obomination to the freedom seekers in Iran:
"It is all about ME, fend for yourselves and drop dead!"
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