“Throughout my life, I have always looked to Mahatma Gandhi as an inspiration, because he embodies the kind of transformational change that can be made when ordinary people come together to do extraordinary things. That is why his portrait hangs in my Senate office: to remind me that real results will come not just from Washington – they will come from the people.” –Barack Obama, quoted in The Hindu, July 12, 2008
There is the potential for a transformational change going on right now in Iran. Ordinary people are flooding the streets in the long-shot hope of doing an extraordinary thing. Real results come from the people? I wonder where our president’s sympathies lie this evening. I think I know.
Yet, given the United States’ history with Iran, there is almost nothing sincere that Obama can say that will actually help those people in the streets. Any sign of sympathy from America is likely to undermine the advocates of democracy. Still, Obama has the ability to surprise me. Just when I think he’s in a jam, he seems to do something more clever than anything I could have thought up on my own.
I love the internet. It’s such a ballbuster for authoritarians.
I hope Obama will just stay out of it at least for now. And the very, very last thing he should do is listen to a word his “Iran expert” the poisonous and ignorant Dennis Ross says.
I trust his instincts more than our analysts.
This is about a human touch, not manipulation.
I agree, especially when his “analysts” are the likes of Dennis Ross. Yes, if any touch at all, the human touch is the right one, but I still believe the best thing to say is nothing at all.
I wonder what this does to Bibi’s speech tomorrow.
Yes, Obama amazes me. In his speech last week, just the adjective “Holy” in front of “Koran” (which every Middle Easterner would use)put him on a different planet from Bush.
Two days ago, he said about all he could when he said that our relationship with Iran might be better “for them having this conversation/debate…” Tactful, but pointed.
It’s important to realize that none of this would have happened if Ahmanidejad had been able to point to Bush as the “great Satan” and rallied the people to national defense. Just as Bush here won elections with fear, so would he in Iran. Just lowering one’s volume does wonders.
I agree Obama will be relatively quiet for a few months. Even if the rigged election stands, the Iranian people will never trust their system quite the same way again.
How much did people really trust a system that told them they had no choice about how to worship? Could they vote the clerics out of power?
Probably about as much as we trust a system where the bankers tell us what to do…
While I certainly agree with monied interests having far too much power – all of at unelected. They, however, don’t reach into my house and tell me what to do. I can opt out of much of the system they’ve created. I don’t need a credit card. I can pay for cash for anything. I am beholden to them as much as I choose. The banking police aren’t going to harass me on the street if I’m not spending enough cash. Try being a woman in a theocratic nation (pick your religion) and having the audacity to show a little too much skin.
I just hope the US “security” establishment can be reined in long enough so they don’t try to capitalize on the “opportunity” the disorder in Iran presents. I feel absolutely sure that there are NSA, CIA, military, and neocon pols dreaming of how this is “our” chance to make Iran the region’s “shining beacon of democracy”. IE, assurance of money and power for them for more generations to come.
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In today’s speech in Jerusalem
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."I don’t think ‘transformational change’ is in the cards for Iran right now. The Mullahs can’t, at this late hour, allow their puppet Ahmadinejad to be pressured out of power by others, even their own public. If they do they lose face because they are supposed to be the only ones to wield such decisionmaking power.
As for Netanyahu, the idea that he would actually be in favor of a 2-state situation is absurd. He knows full well that as long as the occupation exists and the settlements continue to expand that the Palestinian people will never unilaterally disarm.
Netanyahu is a somewhat clever but ultimately deranged lunatic, like all neocons. Hatred and violence and war and lust for power and dominion over others is their lifeblood. It is impossible for creatures like this to negotiate in good faith. They have no conscience.