In typical Obama fashion, he has been almost completely mute on the Iran election issue. Instead he left the comments up to his gaffe prone Vice President, Mr. Biden. His statements on the issue said nothing. So the US wants more information about the election before casting judgment and wants to ensure Iran that open talks will still be on the table. Here are some of the facts. The four candidates running for President were handpicked by the religious leaders of Iran. Then almost immediately after the polls closed, authorities claimed to have counted millions of paper ballots and named Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner. To put it into perspective, just think about how long it takes the US to calculate our votes.
The response by Iranians has been outrage as it should. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in the capital alone. Other protests are being held throughout the country. There are even reports that Iranian security forces are keeping Ahmadinejad’s main rival in his home. To this Ahmadinejad responded that “He ran a red light, and he got a traffic ticket.” I’m not kidding, that’s what he said.
The bottom line is that this is a missed opportunity by this administration to side with democracy. The President should denounce these elections and call them what they are, corrupt. He should show support for the Iranian people and use his leadership skills to build a coalition with other countries to do the same. With this pressure, we can affect real change in Iran and show the Muslim world that it has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with freedom. To do otherwise shows complete lack of leadership from the leader of the free world.
To me personally, I find it inconceivable that this President would put time and effort to wedge a divide between Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives, but cannot develop a plan to do the same between the extremist government of Iran and the Iranian people who yearn for freedoms. Instead of siding with Democracy, he is sitting on the fence doing nothing and waiting on an extremist regime, which spews hatred at every opportunity, to do the right thing.
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Our silence is consent. That Barack Obama is more worried about keepin’ it real with Ajmehandadwhatever than in maintaining America’s reputation as defenders of the underdog and champions of democracy, speaks volumes about his character. None of it good.
This whole lack of a spine has truly outraged me. This is a president that preaches about fairness and freedom and yet when there is a true opportunity for him to stand up and do something about it - nothing! (Of course nationalizing health care is way more important than protecting the basic freedom and rights our country stands for)