So I've been perched at the top of the mountain behind Wheeling, WV at the TA truck stop for a few days, and been getting blasted by Faux News for the entire time. Aside from the usual questions about how many ulcers this is going to cause, I have a specific question raised by Glen O'Reilitty van Sustren.
Exactly what the hell do these people want from Obama, with regard to the current unrest in Iran? Quick review:
June 12th, 2009 saw elections for the Presidency of Iran. The challenger, Hossein Mousavi, called the whole thing a fraud, after incumbent President Ahmadinejad had claimed to have been re-elected by a margin of 11 million votes. The protesting began and Mousavi has been calling for the whole thing to be thrown out and a new election to be run, presumably one allowing outside observers, although I can't confirm that. Meanwhile, at Friday prayers on the 19th the supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a statement ruling out election fraud, condemning protesters, blaming foreign powers for causing the whole row and generally trying to tell everyone to shut up, sit down and get back to business.
That went over like a lead falafal and street show has carried on since, unabated, with Mousavi calling for marches and strikes. additionally, there have been protests and demonstrations here in the US and possibly elsewhere, I haven't been able to confirm that yet either.
Now with all that going on, we turn briefly to the White House and Fearless Leader, aka President Barack "Barry" Obama. This fellow has been talking about dialog and diplomacy, trying to use discourse and understanding to repair and maybe normalize relations with Tehran. in the face of the current situation, his response has been very measured and carefully worded.
On the 16th, he gave an interview with CNBC where he addressed the election, saying that while the whole thing bears scrutiny, our aims and our obstacles won't change substantially. On the 20th, he delivered more forceful remarks, but has maintained his stance that this is an internal affair of Iran. It would seem though, that isn't sufficient for the Foxists.
This whole weekend has been committed, almost exclusively, to A: saying Obama isn't supporting the American Ideal because he's not....I dunno, not saying mean enough things to Tehran? Not sending our armed forces to get involved in yet another foreign war? ...anyway, and then B: talking about how wrong Obama is for not doing those things I just said, especially since lots and lots of people in Washington (you know, those super-patriots the Republicans) are just tripping over each other to bash the Islamo-fascists. McCain's been all over this, in a nice, thinly veiled "Well if _I_ were to have won..." session, which is absolutely hilarious because he of all people should understand why getting involved in foreign wars is a bad idea which is a lesson that even old man Kissinger seems to have picked up on.
So again I ask, what exactly is it these people think they want? To continue the same tired old rhetoric that hasn't work for the last 40 years? To get involved in yet another foreign war? Seriously people, this game is just getting silly. The world has changed, the Cold War is over, we don't need to keep running in Us versus Them mode. Seriously people. The war is over.
