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Last update - 11:12 25/06/2009
Blackberry president vs. Twitter
By Ari Shavit
Tags: Iran Election, Obama 

Barack Obama is the king of the world. The mega-celebrity of the 21st century enjoys unprecedented affection all over the universe and solid political support in the United States. His party controls both houses of Congress, and he himself has the American media swooning. With the exception of one pariah vice president (Dick Cheney) and one pariah television network (Fox), nobody dares to criticize him.

Obama conquered the world this spring, and the world is still conquered. Since World War II there has not been a president like Obama in the White House who can do whatever he desires in Washington.

And yet, this past week has cracked the U.S. president. The paralysis that seized the king of the world in the face of Iranian evil has exposed a scratch in his Teflon coating for the first time.
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The warrior of Chicago's acceptance of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's religious fascism is hard to digest. It is hard to understand and excuse the exaggerated caution exercised by the leader of the free world with the despots of Tehran. It is even harder to forgive the way he turned his back on the demonstrators for freedom who risked their lives - and sometimes even sacrificed them - for the values he is supposed to represent. The Blackberry president did not heed the distress of the Twitter rebels. In his first test Obama stumbled morally.

The reason Obama behaved as he did is simple: George W. Bush. Obama the statesman has been guided by his determination to be the opposite of his predecessor.

Bush entered Iraq, so Obama will leave Iraq. Bush established Guantanamo, so Obama will close Guantanamo. Bush approved torture, so Obama forbids torture. Bush was hostile to Hugo Chavez, so Obama is chummy with the Venezuelan president. Bush threatened the Saudi king, so Obama bowed down before the Saudi king. Bush demanded that the Arab-Muslim world change, so Obama accepts it as is. Bush believed that the fate of despotic Islamic regimes should be the same as that of despotic Soviet regimes, so Obama believes that despotic Islamic regimes are no less legitimate than patronizing white democracies.

It is entirely clear what would have happened this week had Bush still been president. He would have sided determinedly with the friends of Neda Agha-Soltan and condemned Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He would have made it clear that the United States will have nothing to do with an evil regime that is trying to obtain nuclear weapons while oppressing its citizens. He would have exploited the historic opportunity to isolate the ayatollahs and undermine their rule.

But just because Bush would have behaved that way, Obama did the opposite. He stammered and hesitated and apologized, and did nothing. When history came to stare him in the face, Obama lowered his eyes.

The problem is not only a personal one. The fashionable left has a weakness for third-world tyrants. Just as the Israeli left is forgiving toward the tyranny of Hamas, the American left is forgiving toward the tyranny of the Revolutionary Guard. Just as Israeli liberals turn a blind eye to the persecution of women, homosexuals and other minorities in Arab countries, American liberals turn a blind eye to any oppression that is not Western.

Due to a profound sense of guilt for the white man's sins, the politically correct left is incapable of properly confronting the sins of a non-white person. The result is patently immoral: It is the very people who consider themselves obligated to the third world who are turning their backs on the victims of oppression there. It is the champions of human rights who are abandoning the Middle East's residents to the mercies of despots.

The same Jimmy Carter whose diplomatic blindness enabled Khomeini to take control of Iran, thus condemning it to 30 years of oppression, is not going to Tehran this week to wash away his sins. Instead he dares to report to Hamastan in order to strengthen the discrimination by Hamas.

Obama is not Carter. He is an ethical, realistic and intelligent person. The hope that he has aroused in the world is not without foundation. But this hope will not be realized if he fails in Iran. In order to succeed there, Obama must stretch out a hand not to the oppressors in Iran but to the oppressed.

He must stand not alongside the religious dictatorship but alongside the courageous rebellion. If he does not do so, the fate of the incumbent Democratic president will be similar to that of the Democratic president of the 1970s. He will quickly lose his moral authority and even bear responsibility for a historic missed opportunity.
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  1.   Obama did exactly the right thing 09:47  |  Natallie Durson 25/06/09
  2.   Siding with Which "Death to America" Faction? 09:50  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/06/09
  3.   Ari... 10:05  |  Yosemite 25/06/09
  4.   an excellent analysis 10:25  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 25/06/09
  5.   The cockroaches are coming out of the wall 10:26  |  Yonatan 25/06/09
  6.   #3, Mark of Lewiston 10:33  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 25/06/09
  7.   RIDICULOUS! He Was RIGHT/IRANIANS In The US Told Him This!!! 10:34  |  U.S. Pal Defender 25/06/09
  8.   On the contrary, Shavit, on the contrary 10:35  |  Danny 25/06/09
  9.   Nobody is "king of the world" 10:37  |  Optipessimist 25/06/09
  10.   Obama 10:53  |  John 25/06/09
  11.   This was no revolution. It was rather similar... 11:04  |  Stephen. 25/06/09
  12.   Nuttalie "Ther`s no evidence yet Israel organized the protests" 12:06  |  Nemesis 25/06/09
  13.   Obama compromised himself, no doubt about it 12:26  |  Peter Williams 25/06/09
  14.   ari shavit, you are an idiot, sorry. 13:11  |  Axel 25/06/09
  15.   US PalDefender....being a mewling coward 13:16  |  Lynn 25/06/09
  16.   #5 Cipora JK.....his power grabs aren`t much different 13:20  |  Lynn 25/06/09
  17.   The measenger 13:51  |  patriot 25/06/09
  18.   People who love freedom? 13:54  |  John 25/06/09
  19.   respect 14:06  |  oz 25/06/09
  20.   A Devastatingly Accurate Article 14:10  |  Jeff Northridge 25/06/09
  21.   Hello Mark of Lewiston #3 14:27  |  S 25/06/09
  22.   Intervention wouldn`t help the reformists 14:36  |  Spider 25/06/09
  23.   Shameless Shavit and his "political economic siege" 14:41  |  Hank N Tennessee 25/06/09
  24.   The psycho-right gripe 15:07  |  Mark Lincoln 25/06/09
  25.   Stupid analysis 15:09  |  Abba 25/06/09
  26.   Shavit: you are wrong and display sour grapes 15:28  |  Dolly Mop 25/06/09
  27.   Obama is supporting freedom and democracy in Iran 15:33  |  Anonymous 25/06/09
  28.   Prejudicial statements 15:46  |  Anonymous 25/06/09
  29.   Not Carter, but... 15:51  |  Hershel G. 25/06/09
  30.   Wait, there is a new contender 16:01  |  Shimon Cleopas 25/06/09
  31.   Obama 16:01  |  oz 25/06/09
  32.   The Audacity of Rocket Science 16:05  |  Shimon Cleopas 25/06/09
  33.   Iran and the curse of oil 16:30  |  Anonymous 25/06/09
  34.   Obama wiser than I thought 16:36  |  Jirka 25/06/09
  35.   The Rocket Scientist 16:47  |  Shimon Cleopas 25/06/09
  36.   Championship Speeches 17:22  |  Shimon Cleopas 25/06/09
  37.   Shavit endorses Ahmadinejad 17:39  |  Brian 25/06/09
  38.   #24 Mark Lincoln....no one I know of said "go to war" 17:53  |  Lynn 25/06/09
  39.   Ari, you just care about Israel, not Iranians. 18:00  |  Michael 25/06/09
  40.   MotherMarys Madi vs Leaders 18:00  |  Shimon Cleopas 25/06/09
  41.   Obama was right 18:05  |  Ronnie Wolman 25/06/09
  42.   #18 John....I have never thought of any of those 18:08  |  Lynn 25/06/09
  43.   To Cipora 18:14  |  American in Paris 25/06/09
  44.   Natallie - a clue for you 18:19  |  Binn 25/06/09
  45.   Obama is NOT a Private Citizen 18:22  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/06/09
  46.   Mark of Lewiston 18:32  |  sh 25/06/09
  47.   S 18:39  |  sh 25/06/09
  48.   #33 Lynn 18:39  |  John 25/06/09
  49.   sh #35 Maybe. But Ahmad wants apologies now from Obama... 19:11  |  S 25/06/09
  50.   No revolution... yet 19:23  |  AT 25/06/09
  51.   Caution is good, but beware the dosis. 19:28  |  Fortuna Benmayor 25/06/09
  52.   Natallie Durson: oh dear, more conspiracy theories 19:39  |  AT 25/06/09
  53.   Oh yes he is! 19:53  |  Morris Valentine 25/06/09
  54.   You`re wrong, Ari--Obama IS anothe Jimmy Carter 20:11  |  Voice of Reason 25/06/09
  55.   0bama is Carter in negative 20:34  |  Linichka 25/06/09
  56.   WTF 20:45  |  david 25/06/09
  57.   C J Kohn analyse this 2nd try 02:54  |  maoriboy 26/06/09
  58.   Ethical? 04:00  |  UsedToPostHere 26/06/09
  59.   Correct response 05:09  |  American 26/06/09
  60.   #57, mauriboy 06:19  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 26/06/09
  61.   `shunning` 11:00  |  Jim 26/06/09
  62.   Ari Shavit`s self-deception 05:52  |  Lewis 27/06/09
  63.   Obama Chamberline 1938-2009 12:25  |  Igal 27/06/09
  64.   re: Lewis 15:48  |  UsedToPostHere 27/06/09
  65.   Yeah, let`s stick our nose in Iran`s business 01:10  |  Chris Beach 28/06/09
  66.   News flash 05:19  |  American 28/06/09
  67.   And YOU do? 05:25  |  American 28/06/09
  68.   All the blather about voting results 06:08  |  American 28/06/09
  69.   Hypocrasy so thick 06:16  |  American 28/06/09
  70.   Obama didn`t speaking against Mubarak, Putin as well - so what?? 06:44  |  Jamil Serazi 28/06/09
  71.   Nemesis - don`t youI just hate these stereotypes? 08:59  |  wibism 28/06/09
  72.   re: Chris Beach 20:01  |  UsedToPostHere 28/06/09
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