[img]1|left|||no_popup[/img]Who knew?
We did, or should have?
Vice President Biden’s prediction last autumn, that Barack Obama would be severely tested by a crisis in the first six months of his Presidency, makes the Veep seem prescient now that Iran is on fire.
Mr. Biden would have looked even more prescient if he had told us that when the crisis struck, Mr. Obama would eschew leadership for dithering.
Astounding, isn’t it, that it took this not necessarily clear thinker 11 days to criticize an Iranian election in which
• 46 million paper ballots in hundreds of cities were cast.
• In less than 4 hours, the results were tabulated and announced.
Over this bizarre development, the stunningly irresolute Mr. Obama swayed from side to side for a week and a half.
Will My Tears Put Out the Fire?
It was like standing before a house afire and taking an hour to decide whether to call the fire department or extinguish it yourself.
Mr. Obama was elected to lead, but, at crucial junctures, he abandons leadership for passive observation.
As disappointing, as lacklustre, as passive as the President’s response has been to desperate, heroic and martyred Iranians during the past 12 days, we cannot claim that we were not warned.
Last year, Candidate Obama strewed his campaign path with overt clues as to how he would govern.
By the time he entered the White House in November, we knew that his mode of choice at the nexus of a crisis was to fade six steps into the background and silently observe.
All Right, You Must Choose One Answer
What we still do not know — in certain cases — is whether Mr. Obama is confused about which position to take or whether he is the shrewdest President we ever have had and is discreetly playing a cool game of diplomatic chess out of our view.
Unless you are talking about direct answers to direct questions, which he artfully dodges at his hourly press conferences, Mr. Obama cannot be accused of deceptiveness. This is an increasingly common but unfair complaint.
Take his revelatory visit last summer with Orange County mega-Pastor Rick Warren. The pastor fruitlessly tried to probe Mr. Obama’s calculatedly vague stance on abortion. To this day, pro-lifers and the pro-abortion camp will tell you Mr. Obama is their ally. This is how brilliantly he has skidded around and through America’s most explosive minefield.
On the subject of aborting, when Pastor Warren asked Mr. Obama directly when he believes life begins, the candidate uttered probably the most cleverly manipulated response of his campaign.
Glancing toward the huge audience in the manner of a timing-conscious performer, Mr. Obama gave his answer, not from his mind or heart but from a closely monitored script, “That’s beyond my pay grade.”
Every Actor Fulfills His Assignment
A not necessarily favorable crowd laughed, as Mr. Obama and his handlers knew they would.
This represented a staggering planned victory.
Mazel tov for the smashing strategy drawn by Mr. Obama’s handlers. It dripped with glittering showmanship and incisive political insight.
The Obama camp knew that the very, very friendly media would link the candidate’s answer to the crowd’s reaction, thereby swiftly removing them from a politically sensitive danger zone.
Exchanging heartfelt thoughtfulness for scripted humor, the candidate forged escape that did not resemble an escape without ever answering the key question, without committing himself, which was the point of the whole exercise, Murgatroyd.
The notion that the candidate, not known for his humor, would draw a laugh when he was in relatively enemy territory was the dominant storyline that played out in the cozy electronic and print media for days.
These kinds of innocent-seeming tactics actually were part of the foundation-building for 8 likely years of rule from the White House.
The main takeaway was that a President Obama never would have to commit himself to an undeniable position in a confrontational situation.
As long as the media was uncritical, he could skate away unchallenged.
He even ducked an elementary question about Iran at yesterday’s press conference: Would he invite Iranian diplomats to the White House for next week’s 4th of July party. Can’t say, he said, and can’t say why — the hallmark of the Obama administration.
What does Mr. Obama really believe about when life begins or how Iran should come out — in the view of the leader (?) of the free world? Likely, we never will know.
