On a day of brutal repression in Iran, following a week in which Obama’s domestic policies imploded and his poll numbers tumbled, the Saturday morning headline from Politico blared “Obama’s Top Ten Quips From Last Night.” If politics is nothing but gossip and celebrity worship, what’s the point?
Speaking of which, all Maureen Dowd can write about is the fly incident: “The moment may have resonated so much because some Americans fear that President Obama is too prone to negotiation, comity and splitting the difference, that he could have been tougher on avaricious banks and vicious Iranian dictators.” Maybe it resonated with his media sycophants who have the queasy feeling they have over-sold and over-hyped a Jimmy Carter re-tred.
The Claire McCaskill-Pat Buchanan-Ron Paul alliance on Iran policy. Will they now be upset with the president’s tougher rhetoric?
On Obama’s newly-stiffened spine, Rich Lowry writes: “Obama’s prior stance had become so supine and embarrassing that even Nick Burns had changed his tune, telling the WSJ today: ‘I think it is important that Iranian government should hear that they are rapidly losing credibility. This speech [Khamenei's yesterday] may give President Obama more of a pretext to speak out on this.’ Anyway, good for Obama for beginning to step up. And bless those breathtakingly brave men and women out in the streets of Iran.”
Don’t get your hopes up: “Despite increasingly intense Republican criticism, and the passage of resolutions in the House and Senate on Friday that were tougher than the president’s words, U.S. officials say they will stick to their current course. They say there is not much the United States can do to influence the situation — except make it worse for the opposition — but they have begun planning for the administration’s response if the crackdown turns very violent.” They seem not to think much of the United States or its president, do they? Perhaps if they did not assume everyone thinks as poorly of America as they do these officials would have more confidence and adopt some of the suggested steps for aiding the protesters.
Not pleased with the president: “Hundreds of people protested in front of the White House Saturday calling on President Obama to denounce Iran’s presidential elections. Demonstrators say they want President Obama to seek help from the United Nations and ask for a re-election or recount in the country. They say the White House’s inaction over what’s happening in Iran does not look good because the rest of the world looks to the U.S. for leadership.”
James Kirchick explains that “it is becoming increasingly clear that those who harbored suspicions about Obama’s approach to the Middle East had good reason to be worried. A confluence of factors — including his administration’s undue pressure on Israel, a conciliatory approach to authoritarian Muslim regimes, and the baseless linkage of the failed ‘peace process’ to the curtailment of the Iranian nuclear program — point to what could become ‘the greatest disagreement between the two countries in the history of their relationship,’ as Middle East expert Robert Satloff recently told Newsweek.” In the immortal words of James Baker. . . well . . . know you. But this time they did vote for the president, which makes the betrayal all the more appalling.
Once again France takes the lead: “Thousands of people gathered north of Paris on Saturday to support Iranian opposition protesters and an Iranian exile group pushing to be rid of a terrorist label. Crowds spilled out of buses and filled the fairground in Villepinte under drizzly skies. Organizers said 1,000 buses were hired to bring protesters from around France and Europe, including legislators from several countries.The rally was organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Organizers said 90,000 people turned out.”
Andrew Malcolm makes a good point: is Obama’s quoting of Martin Luther King, Jr. meant for domestic consumption or does he finally care about what Iranian people hear?
Marco Rubio is on a roll.
Thanks J.G. for this post. But where are the Republicans on this? Public money being lavished on a corrupt organization that sows class and racial hatred would outrage most Americans.
In addition to the fact that ACORN was a major backer of Obama.
“But where are the Republicans on this?”
Heh. Good one.
Acorn – Obama’s Brown Shirts…
A good introduction to things this bad that were done by FDR is Amity Shlaes’ book, The Forgotten Man. It has been this bad before, although I don’t think it would have to get much worse, for it to be officially the worst we’ve ever seen in the USA (in terms of our leaders rabble-rousing and fostering class envy).
This is not harmless, and we should be concerned. But we CAN recover from it. I pray daily that it will not take a world war to bring us to our senses. A world war fought today would be incalculably bloodier and more terrible than WWII.
It’s weird, because I remember reading about this kind of stuff toward the beginning of Chavez’s rule; it was all done by his allies, not the government itself, so he was able to denounce the intimidation of the wealthy by his allied rabble (while he whipped them into outraged frenzy).
I have to admit, I never thought it would happen in this country; or, at least if it did, it wouldn’t be tacitly sanctioned by our government. I mean, you read about this type of stuff when you study communist dictatorships, but it happening here just fills with this feeling of unreality. I wonder if this is how the silent middle felt when it was going on in their own countries as their freedoms slipped away?
Rob Dawson — that’s a good question, about the silent middle in other countries. I keep hearing random anecdotes about people’s parents and grandparents who came here from other countries, warning their children how much it was like this (our current situation in the US), before Dictator X and the Party of Hatred Against Anyone Who Has a Checking Account took over.
If Repulicans in Congress don’t start showing some guts, I really wonder what is going to happen. The thing about Americans is that we’re armed to the teeth, and millions of people have no more intention of letting Washington rape and pillage them than they had of letting Moscow do it. I’m not so sure Americans in their late-30s to 60s will just sit still for ACORN tearing our lives and culture apart.
It is a good question what it would take to decisively defeat ACORN — make it stop trying to rend our people asunder, and stir up anger and hatred. The further things go, the less likely it seems to me we are, to come out of this thing with an America we recognize. If ACORN provokes middle America to take the law into its own hands, because the law is not protecting its interests, what is the blueprint for recovery from that?
JE Dyer: It’s interesting that you mention the age groups involved in any potential protest. Sen. Gregg was talking today about the Obama budget as generational theft. One of the most striking things about what’s going on is that the people that are ultimately going to be hurt the most by all this, the under-35 crowd, are Obama’s biggest supporters. The extent to which they don’t seem to get this is truly shocking. It’s almost as if they simply fail to grasp the nature of debt, and what it’s going to do to their future prospects and quality of life.
As far as ACORN, it’s just this odd pattern that seems to repeat in history, where you have this almost quasi-governmental group of shock troops sent out to intimidate whatever area of society that is being demonized, usually the wealthy. Since it’s not actually the government doing it, there’s this thin veneer of distance and deniability; but, of course, when you bother to look behind the curtain, it’s the government that’s whipping them into this frenzy in order to consolidate power. And it’s the kind of thing that when you read about it happening someplace else, you wonder how could people be so stupid and let a relatively small group push their society into such hate, radical change, and ultimately, government control.
“I have to admit, I never thought it would happen in this country”
We may be getting the beginnings of to the answer to “How could people let this happen?” (If we are paying attention.) I, for one, am beginning to understand the reply “You had to be there” which I had always rejected as disingenuous.
Be interested in a map of where Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and Franklin Raines live. I wonder how a tour in those parts, led by Tea Party types, would be received?
It’s the beginning of a long Kristallnacht.
It’s reasonable to believe that Putin orchestrated the Chechen dirty bomb crisis to mask his consolidation of power. A similar sort of “terrorist attack” is the thing to watch out for. Obama can only go so far on the strength of the financial crisis.
More than anything, the Obama administration’s assumption of power reminds me of the situation in Chile after Allende’s election victory. As an individual, Obama is eerily reminiscent of Mussolini, apart from his skin color.
Class Warfare, based on ENVY. Started by FDR in the mid 1930′s and waged ever since. So tell me something new. Maybe if the “activists” got off their bus and literally set fire to houses, then that would be interesting. otherwise it’s simple intimidation. Thank You.
… the “See the lifestyles of the rich and greedy you’re paying for” tour …
Actually, I’d bet that the people on the ACORN tour don’t even pay taxes.
ACORN is a nationally organized inner-city street gang is all. And Obama was one of the leaders and chief instigator in the Chicago Cook County chapter. These are his homeys.
Rob Dawson — yes, Mark Steyn last week made that point about the under-35 crowd being both Obama’s biggest supporters and his biggest victims, in terms of government debt. It’s a great point, although mine was a little broader in scope. I don’t think the import of debt is the only thing the under-35 too often don’t understand.
And I really don’t want to tar everyone with the same brush, because there are under-35ers who do understand, and plenty of them. But in terms of understanding that we can’t just let our way of life be taken from us without a fight, my sense is that it’s the people over 35, and still hale and hearty (i.e., for the most part, not over 70), who can put that understanding together with the strength of numbers and commitment — lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.
We in the modest middle-class will be, if not the next victims, the ones after next. My neighbors are union heavy equipment operators, schoolteachers, policemen, Dell contractors, realtors, Ace Hardware salesmen, security guards, and (like me) retired military. Who would want to take a bus tour through our neighborhood and plot against us? ACORN, that’s who. We’re solvent. We have jobs. We obviously were able to get mortgages, and we obviously keep paying them. We care about our property values, enough to keep our lawns mowed and weeded, and our cars off of cement blocks. We’re all races and ethnic and national backgrounds, and yet we don’t devote ourselves to victim politics or demand special perks from the government.
As far as ACORN is concerned, we’re in the same category as the AIG Bonus Executives. I’m not sure how well the under-35s understand that WE are the demographic that’s not possible under state socialism. Under state socialism, WE are the ones who no longer get to buy homes for ourselves, and have some say in where our kids go to school, and make our own choices about employment, or where to live, or what kind of car to buy. The wealthy and privileged, whether politicians or industrialists, coexist nicely with state socialism, and so do the ACORNs. It’s the neighborhoods full of the modest middle-class that don’t. We end up in the gray, crumbling tenements of 1970s Poland, standing in line for bread and milk, and living out the collectivist dreams of the vindictive.
#17 JE Dyer:
From the 2nd sentence on, that last paragraph is really powerful!!!
Republican grandstanding about ACORN is hilariously ineffective. Why are you still trying to get traction with this issue?
Especially with Spakovsky and Schlozman on your side, this issue will always make you guys look silly. But I guess if you are counting on republicans who lack the intelligence to understand the difference between “voter fraud” and registration fraud so a teenager can pull down a minimum wage check, then I suppose it could work for you someday.
Kilgore, “registration fraud” opens the door for “voter fraud.” If you can’t grasp how the former makes the latter so much easier, then there really isn’t much point in discussing matters further.
Also, “registration fraud” is a big problem in and of itself. It costs the authorities a great deal of time and effort and money to wade through the bogus ones. That’s why it needs to be stopped, and stopped HARD.
J.
J.G. Thayer — I propose we designate Trout Guy as the one to have his vote cancelled out by a fraudulently-registered “voter.”
J.G. Thayer: Don’t be foolish- I grasp the concept just fine, thank you.
A simple question. If I’m an ACORN worker, and I need to register (I have no idea what the quota actually is), say, 250 voters in a week, and I register Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes for my remaining 50 votes because I’m a slacker and didn’t do my job. Now, maybe that’s registration fraud (leaving some rather valid scienter questions aside), but what it does NOT mean is that Yosemite Sam’s going to stroll into a polling place and vote for a democrat on election day.
And repeatedly raising this illusory ACORN conspiracy just gives your opponents a chance to point out that you cannot post any proof of a single incident where ACORN actually engaged in “voter fraud”, as none exists.
Kilgore,
The problem comes in when Yosemite Sam’s listed on the rolls as a voter (registration fraud) in a state where checking photo ID to vote is one of the many things verboten in the name of access to the polls. All it takes then if for someone, knowing that a fictional “Yosemite Sam” is on the rolls and what the address is listed as “Yosemite Sam’s”, to then present themselves as Sam, with the “proper” home address and demand to be allowed to vote – as they ARE registered to vote.
Registration fraud doesn’t mean that voter fraud will happen, but it certainly makes it easier for it TO happen.
24 to 23:
You’ve been pwned.