Last Friday was Nowr?z [1], in Iran. President Obama in recognition of the day sent along a televised message to the Iranians . It is something of a tradition amongst American presidents to do precisely that.
The tone however was markedly different from that of previous presidents. The response was quite predictable;
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — [2]Iran’s supreme leader rebuffed President Barack Obama’s latest outreach on Saturday, saying Tehran was still waiting to see concrete changes in U.S. policy.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was responding to a video message Obama released Friday in which he reached out to Iran on the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian new year, and expressed hopes for an improvement in nearly 30 years of strained relations.
Khamenei holds the last word on major policy decisions, and how Iran ultimately responds to any concrete U.S. effort to engage the country will depend largely on his say.
In his most direct assessment of Obama and prospects for better ties, Khamenei said there will be no change between the two countries unless the American president puts an end to U.S. hostility toward Iran and brings “real changes” in foreign policy.
“They chant the slogan of change but no change is seen in practice. We haven’t seen any change,” Khamenei said in a speech before a crowd of tens of thousands in the northeastern holy city of Mashhad.
In his video message, Obama said the United States wants to engage Iran, but he also warned that a right place for Iran in the international community “cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization.”
If the rightful place for Iran and the international community can’t be a reached through terror or arms, then why are they using and planning both?
That use of arms and terror by Iran is not the fault of the United States or any other nation on the face of the planet. The blame for Iran’s position in the world falls squarely in the lap of Iran’s leadership, Khamenei included.
The President seems to be under the misbegotten notion that the lack of negotiations between ourselves and Iran is our fault. At least, the fault of the previous administration. If the response he got doesn’t alter that misperception, I’d don’t know for the life of me what will.
Mr. Obama seems fully intent on badly misplaying this affair, kissing the backside that he ought to be kicking. This is a tactic we’ve seen out of democrats for generations now, and it’s to the point where it has become quite predictable. Indeed if the reader will remember it was one of the major reasons I posted in the list of reasons not to elect Mr. Obama as president. This blog predicted in no uncertain terms that are situation with Iran would deteriorate the moment Obama’s backside was in the chair behind the Oval Office desk. And so it has.
So dominant is the stench of failure of the Obama administration on nearly every front, that one must begin to consider the idea that failure was the aim they had all along. Indeed, if one were to go about trying to screw up the economy, our relationship with friends and enemies around the world alike, and are standing in the world, I can’t imagine anything more effective than what this administration has done so far. Think about this; he’s not even a full three months in office yet and he’s accomplished all this. Can you imagine what the next four years is going to be like?
Addendum: (Bit)
James Joyner [3]has comments on this matter as well.