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Far in Advance, Obama Told Us How He Would Respond to Iran

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[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.