No one is cheering on Mousavi — we’re cheering the Iranian people. And we’re frankly puzzled why the leader of the free world has yet to do so.

I’m not puzzled. This is what I expected. It is one reason why I did not vote for Obama, and why I oppose him today.

Obama rejects the title “leader of the free world” as President, in deed if not in words. He does not aspire to promote freedom, liberty, and self-determination as organizing principles for the world. He has repeatedly undercut those ideas as naive and simplistic mistakes of the Bush era. Anyone who is surprised by his actions simply hasn’t been paying attention.

*sigh*

src=”http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/06/17/world/17iran4-600.jpg”> That picture is from today (Wednesday). The resistance isn’t backing down yet. And now the state is threatening executions of dissenters. In a message on a Web site associat…

That picture is from today (Wednesday). The resistance isn’t backing down yet. And now the state is threatening executions of dissenters. In a message on a Web site associated with him, Mr. Moussavi called on his supporters to rally……

No one is cheering on Mousavi — we’re cheering the Iranian people. And we’re frankly puzzled why the leader of the free world has yet to do so.

Maybe because you, Ed, told him his speech in Cairo was surprisingly good?

Why does this matter and why do I keep harping on it?

Well because you see, when one glosses over a speech like that and doesn’t criticize what was definitely a butt kissing to our enemies, our leader (and those in power), cannot self-correct.

Power has to have the truth spoken to, not glossed over and butt kissed.

Why?

Simply because power corrupts. And really the only way the powers-that-be, can understand correction is to well…criticize them.

To some extend, Ed, you are critical, but then in some other areas you are such a cotton ball thrower!

It’s disgusting really.

Nice try. You more like Jimmy Carter.

No one is cheering on Mousavi — we’re cheering the Iranian people. And we’re frankly puzzled why the leader of the free world has yet to do so.

Exactly, Mousavis would just prove to be another Mullah puppet, what really needs to happen is another Iranian revolution, only this time a revolution for true freedom and democracy, not a religious dictatorship!

As for Obambi not cheering on this potential revolution and supporting the Iranian people’s quest for true freedom, what do you exect from an empty suit that’s all talk, all flash, all celebrity and no substance!

Unfortunately this is one of those rare opportunities in history that must be taken advantage of when the getting is good. However because our TOTUS is so inept and out of his league this very important opportunity will be missed and it is my opinion when we look back on history it will be painfully that had Obambi supported the Iranian people at this pivotal moment it could have avoided a disaster, e.g., Iran threatening or using nukes on the West.

Smart power indeed…

year_of_the_dingo on June 17, 2009 at 11:18 AM

No, you are not the only one here old enough to very well remember what went down then.

BUT

Steve Z on June 17, 2009 at 11:47 AM

Pretty much summed it up for my take on these kids. Back then it was about foisting the mullahs upon the Iranian people, and this has shades of splitting the mullahs, and possibly weakening their power. No, I am not so delusional as to think a republic will emerge out of this, but this could be a tiny step to a better situation. All I want is Obama to use words to support the kids. And FYI, beating kids back with a stick in this situation is sort of the problem here. Those Hamas motorcycling baton beaters are very ugly. I think the point of the kids is they have already been beaten with sticks.

No one is cheering on Mousavi — we’re cheering the Iranian people. Ed

That’s what I was trying to say yesterday in a couple of threads, the Iranian people are patriots and are fighting for their rights. Then I look at us and don’t see any leaders speaking out against Obama and his destruction of our country. Finally, some are speaking out about the health reform bill.

“Bush you magnificent bastard!”
Iranian revolution brought to you courtesy of Georg W. Bush. Thank you sir!

Simonsez on June 17, 2009 at 10:16 AM

A posting up a few days ago linked to an article with a quote from one of Actmad’s supporters who said when referring to those protesting the election results … they belong to Bush, we are anti-Bush. So you’re very right. And this is one of the reasons that Obama will not voice support for the process that the protesters are demanding. They want their votes counted. They want the same democratic process in their country as they see across the borders in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is another “mess” that Obama inherited from Bush and it interferes with his plans to negotiate with Iran and persuade them to give up their nuclear weapons program.

the Iranian protests have the potential to go beyond Mousavi — which is why the mullahs want to suppress them.

That’s right Ed. Once the people get a taste of the power they have, even Mousavi would have to bend to their demands. And that’s another reason the mullahs need to suppress this.

No one[here]is cheering on Mousavi — we’re cheering the Iranian people. Ed Morrissey

BullsEye! This popular reaction has been a long time coming. Whatever the near-term resolution, Iran is revealed as a fig ripe for plucking. The scars the mullahs and their thugs have inflicted on this generation will not heal anytime soon. Precise and massive air strikes on selected Nuclear weapon sites inside Iran would be viewed as welcome retribution by many, if not most, Iranians. The Obama US is impotent to deliver a blow, will the Israelis sieze the opportunity when the time is ripe?

“Let’s Roll”

You’d think he’d jump at the chance!
flutejpl on June 17, 2009 at 10:31 AM

Indeed, but I think as in some way Loxodonta pointed out this would endanger the whole engagement strategy this WH is built on. Lot of times media criticized Pres. Bush over what they called his unwillingness to admit mistakes or if he were wrong – I think compared to Bush this ego-maniac is even less likely to ever admit anything remotely like his fallibility or bad judgment..

It’s easier to say as Ed pointed out yesterday ‘It’s not my Bill!!’ or to play the thinking professor who is so ingenious he knows what he is doing even if it makes no sense whatsoever to mere mortals.

A smart President would be paying lip service to neutrality while trying to foment the protesters in secret, with the CIA and its European counterparts. But we don’t have a smart President, we have Obama.

I disagree with part of this. In my opinion a smart president would state that he supports the right of the Iranian people to self determination and that the election was rigged, along the lines of Reagan’s “tear down this wall” speech. Yes, that will put and end to any “negotiations” about Iranian nuclear ambitions, which are a farce anyway. (See North Korea)

Cuba is outwitting us, Russia, Iran and North Korea are all acting in an increasingly belligerent manner, Pakistan is as f-ed up as usual and we won’t even make use of something like this in Iran to ease one of the crises that the world has abdicated responsibility for to us?

Wonderful.

Am I the only one here old enough to remember how “Iranian youths yearning for freedom” stormed our embassy and held fifty of our people hostage for a year and a half? I am not cheering for these bozos. They got what they wanted.

year_of_the_dingo on June 17, 2009 at 11:18 AM

The only problem with is most of the Iranian who protesting now were not a live then.

Clyde5445 on June 17, 2009 at 11:23 AM

Ahmadinejad was one of the guys who stormed our embassy and held 50 diplomats hostage! Then, they were protesting FOR the mullahs and Khomeini, about what they thought was the tyrannical rule of the Shah.

As Clyde5445 pointed out, today’s young Iranian protesters never knew the Shah and the relative freedom Iranians enjoyed under him. All they know is the tyranny of the mullahs and Ahmadinejad, poverty while their country is sitting on a lake of oil they can’t refine, and they’re fed up! They have seen elections in Afghanistan, with Karzai legitimitely elected, and Iraq, with Maliki legitimately elected and bringing peace to a divided land, and they wonder why can’t they have the President THEY elected?

Today’s Iranian protesters want the exact opposite of what those of 1979 wanted. They deserve any support we can give them. A regime change, or a revolution from within, would be a GOOD thing for Iran and its neighbors NOW–whatever replaces it would be better than what Iran has now.

A smart President would be paying lip service to neutrality while trying to foment the protesters in secret, with the CIA and its European counterparts. But we don’t have a smart President, we have Obama.

Interesting read on the issues in Iran, for anyone so inclined.

However, and this is the point that Obama and others miss, the Iranian protests have the potential to go beyond Mousavi

Ed, You also miss a very important point. You’re missingteh even bigger picture.

The real reason that we are excited about what is happening in Iran is that it shows us that if the oppressed Iranian people can fight back against their government, that our own situation isn’t as hopeless as many previously apathetic us citizens believed.

Apathy, born of despair and hopelessness is being power washed off the public consciousness. The worldwide effects and consequences of the drama in Iran will be felt for a very long time…

Am I the only one here old enough to remember how “Iranian youths yearning for freedom” stormed our embassy and held fifty of our people hostage for a year and a half? I am not cheering for these bozos. They got what they wanted.

year_of_the_dingo on June 17, 2009 at 11:18 AM

I agree somewhat…but most of these young men and women weren’t even around back then-a new generation. Surely they have no great love for the U.S. either, but since they seem to be wired into the WWW they might be less brainwashed than Iranians were back in the late ’70s and face it-the Shah of Iran was no flower child and was not loved by the masses. He, too, had secret police, stifled democracy/dissent, etc.

Be that as it may, this is a golden opportunity for our political leaders to side with the protesters. This would probably do much more for changing at least many of their minds about Americans than simply apologizing for being such a ‘mean country’.

The guy they want to elect doesn’t sound more amenable than Achmadinejad, but the point is to support them and their little sliver of democracy that they’re allowed.

But, Obama clearly lacks leadership abilities. He can only bully, attack, apologize and vote present.