Sunday, July 26, 2009

Obama Responds to Falling Polls with Tough Talk on Iran

Responding to his falling poll numbers, the Obama administration gives some tough talk on Iran. Of course, our Secretary of State delivers an incoherent message:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Iran will never achieve its goal of obtaining a nuclear weapon, declaring to Tehran: "Your pursuit is futile."

"What we want to do is to send a message to whoever is making these decisions, that if you're pursuing nuclear weapons for the purpose of intimidating, of projecting your power, we're not going to let that happen," Clinton said.


"Whoever"? Does our Secretary of State not know who is in charge in Iran?

"First, we're going to do everything we can to prevent you from ever getting a nuclear weapon. But your pursuit is futile, because we will never let Iran — nuclear-armed, not nuclear-armed — it is something that we view with great concern, and that's why we're doing everything we can to prevent that from ever happening. ... We believe, as a matter of policy, it is unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons."


What the heck happened here? This is utterly incoherent until the very end.

As a security summit in Thailand earlier this week, Clinton raised the possibility of a "defense umbrella" over the Middle East to protect other nations from a nuclear-armed Iran, marking the first time a senior administration official has publicly broached the prospect of the Persian nation succeeding in building a nuclear weapon.


A missile defense is not effective against a next-door neighbor who has the capacity to send a nuclear weapon in under the umbrella.

Clinton said the Obama administration might still engage with Iran’s regime, even though she thinks the people there “deserve better than what they’re getting."

Moderator David Gregory asked Clinton if the U.S. would be betraying Iran’s democratic movement if the administration decides to negotiate with the government over its nuclear program.

“I don’t think so, David,” she replied. “We have negotiated with many governments who we did not believe represented the will of their people. Look at all the negotiations that went on with the Soviet Union. …


That's because they already had nukes. Are we going to negotiate with every two-bit tyrant who threatens us?

“That’s what you do in diplomacy. You don’t get to choose the people. That’s up to the internal dynamic within a society. But, clearly, we would hope better for the Iranian people. We would hope that there is more openness, that peaceful demonstrations are respected, that press freedom is respected.”


Why should we hold them to a higher standard than we hold ourselves?

Gregory asked if Iran is run by an illegitimate regime.

“You know, that’s really for the people of Iran to decide,” Clinton said. “I have been moved by the … cries for freedom. … People that go back millennia, that have such a great culture and history, deserve better than what they’re getting.”


This is just bizarre. Are there people who don't have ancestors? Are only those people who have a "great" culture and history deserving of freedom? Don't we all have cultural heritage of some kind?

Clinton chuckled heartily when Gregory played a clip of her being asked overseas if she would ever be U.S. president.

"This is a subject that is on the minds of people literally around the world," Clinton said.

About a run for herself, she said: "I have absolutely no belief in my mind that that is going to happen."


That's the best news from this article.

...

Appearing live for the full hour, Clinton continued her increasingly tough talk on North Korea, saying: “They’ve engaged in a lot of provocative action in the last months. … It’s not going to work this time.”


It's worked before? When?

“It’s not only that North Korea has, against the international norms … proceeded with this effort, but they also are a proliferator,” she said. “We know that for a fact. So it’s not only the threat they pose to their neighbors, and eventually beyond, but the fact that they’re trying to arm others.”


If this stupid reporter had had an ounce of sense, s/he would have asked for names.

Clinton was asked if the effort to keep North Korea from going nuclear has failed: “No, I don’t think so, because their program is still at the beginning stages.”

“They are very isolated now,” she continued. “They don’t have any friends left. … We’ve seen even Burma saying that they’re going to enforce the resolution of sanctions.”


Oh, well, if Burma's turned against them...

Clinton began by saying: “What’s important here is the clear message that we’re sending to North Korea. … North Korea must change their behavior, and we have to get back to moving toward verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner. … We’re imposing the most stringent sanctions we ever have. We have great cooperation from the world community.


Really? This is as tough as it gets? Are you kidding me?

“We still want North Korea to come back to the negotiating table to be part of an international effort that will lead to denuclearization. But we’re not going to reward them … for half-measures. They now know what we and the world community expect.


As opposed to before, when they didn't have a clue?

“We want to make clear to North Korea that their behavior is not going to be rewarded. In the past, they believed that they have acted out — doing things which really went against the norms of the international community—and somehow then were rewarded. Those days are over.”


"somehow then were rewarded"? Can we get an example of this?

Our federal government has gone insane. The politicians we elect keep getting more and more ridiculous. Let's repeal the 17th Amendment and end the American Idol-ization of our federal government.

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