Contrasting President Obama and the GOP on Iran (updated)

[ProSense]

Group Of Psychos: "Bomb, Bomb, Iran"

Video: President Obama swats away McCain’s Iran criticism

Transcript:

QUESTION: Were you influenced at all by John McCain and Lindsey Graham accusing you of being timid and weak?

MR. OBAMA: What do you think?

(LAUGHTER)

Look, the — you know, I think John McCain has genuine passion about many of these international issues. And, you know, I think that all of us share a belief that we want justice to prevail.

But only I’m the president of the United States. And I’ve got responsibilities in making certain that we are continually advancing our national security interests and that we are not used as a tool to be exploited by other countries.

I mean, you guys must have seen the reports. They’ve got some of the comments that I’ve made being mistranslated in Iran, suggesting that I’m telling rioters to go out and riot some more. There are reports suggesting that the CIA is behind all this. All of which patently false. But it gives you a sense of the narrative that the Iranian government would love to play into.

So the — you know, members of Congress, they’ve got their constitutional duties, and I’m sure they will carry them out in the way that they think is appropriate. I’m president of the United States, and I’ll carry out my duties as I think are appropriate.

…

And so I think that in the hothouse of Washington, there may be all kinds of stuff going back and forth in terms of Republican critics versus the administration.

That’s not what is relevant to the Iranian people. What’s relevant to them right now is are they going to have their voices heard. And, you know, frankly, a lot of them aren’t paying a lot of attention to what’s being said on Capitol Hill and probably aren’t spending a lot of time thinking about what’s being said here.

They’re trying to figure out how can they make sure justice is served in Iran.

Updated to add:

Obama's Iran Critics Would Undermine The Revolution

by Turkana

It's no surprise that corporate media hacks are parroting the reflexive Republican criticism of President Obama's handling of the ongoing crisis in Iran. That a political irrelevancy named John McCain would attack the president is no surprise. Nor is it a surprise that McCain's pet poodle and wannabe relevancy, Lindsey Graham, would do the same. Nor is it that the corporate media validate such paragons of incompetence and mendacity. None of them care about Iran. They only care about themselves.

The reality is that a U.S. president has to walk a very fine line, when addressing a potential revolution in a foreign sovereign nation. Particularly a foreign sovereign nation that the U.S. has done so much to meddle with, through the decades. And most particularly a foreign sovereign nation that the U.S. has done so much to meddle with, through the decades, that is right next door to another foreign sovereign nation that the U.S. currently has under military occupation. So, it also should come as no surprise that we are already seeing what was reported by the BBC, on Monday:

Western powers are seeking to undermine Iran by spreading "anarchy and vandalism", the foreign ministry says.

A spokesman said foreign media were "mouthpieces" of enemy governments seeking Iran's disintegration.

Get it? The best way for the U.S. to undermine the legitimate revolution in Iran is to attempt to make it our own. To give the Iranian hardliners the opportunity to paint it as yet another attempt at imperialistic manipulation. The president understands this. His critics do not. In a pathetic attempt to score cheap political points, Senators McCain and Graham, and their corporate media enablers, are pushing the president to do exactly what he shouldn't be doing. Meddling. His condemnation of the Iranian crackdown has been carefully calibrated. His critics are being reckless and dangerous.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. Obama is pretty good at swatting

like unwanted pests like McCain

[ProSense]

2. McCain seems to be working hard to ensure that the GOP loses all relevancy. n/t

[karynnj]

3. What is interesting is that most serious foreign policy analysts and leaders,

including Senator Lugar, are standing behind Obama on this. The irresponsible media that backed nearly every bad decision that Bush ever made is again backing the Republicans. It is amazing how much time they are giving McCain and Graham. this is spite of McCain showing his incompetence on foreign policy during the election.

[moondust]

4. Stark contrast between Obama and GOP elder Bush.

For some reason I haven't heard the M$M mention that in 1991 after Gulf War I Poppy Bush aggressively inserted the U.S. into Iraqi politics by encouraging Shiities to rise up against the government of Saddam Hussein. The Shiites followed his lead and did just that. Tens of thousands of them were slaughtered or driven into exile. Tough talk is cheap, and can be very deadly. Foreign policy should never be left to incompetent macho fools.