Posted by
John Caile on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 11:19:54 AM
No matter what happens in Iran, Obama will be able to defend his "non-involved" approach by claiming he "did the right thing." And why not? Obama learned from his time in Chicago politics that voting "present" on potentially contentious issues is the way to go - politically, that is.
So, taking neither side is the smart play for Obama - whatever the outcome, he will be able to claim a foreign policy victory. And, naturally, his worshipful minions in the media will coo and fawn over his "brilliant handling" of the situation, regardless of the cost to the Iranian people.
If the Mullahs crack down ruthlessly on the protesters and crush the rebellion, he will have "shrewdly kept America out of yet another Middle East entanglement." Oh, sure, he will make some bland statement lamenting the failure of the Democracy movement as "a temporary setback" - then immediately cozy up to Ahmandinajad to show that "diplomacy" is the answer.
And if the protesters win? Why then, Obama "played it just the right way" - and he may even attempt to take some credit for the success of the revolution. But in any event, the press will almost certainly laud Obama for his role in promoting the "change" in Iran, by "preventing the U.S. from muddying up the waters."
But leadership in the world of international power politics is about making a stand. And, no, I'm not suggesting military intervention by the United States - a straw man argument used by the Left in defending Obama's timidity. I'm talking about simply expressing a much stronger condemnation of blatantly obvious voting fraud (something with which Obama should be intimately familiar from his Chicago days), while announcing clear and unambiguous support of "the efforts of the Iranian people to achieve freedom and democracy."
Instead, Obama continues to straddle the fence, proving once again that he either doesn't really have what it takes to be a true world leader, or, and perhaps even worse, he simply values his own political career more than he values the lives and freedoms of the Iranian people.