The Washington Times is reporting that President Obama had sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in May seeking improved relations with the nuclear nation. Obviously Khamenei isn’t too interested in the President’s overture and ordered a crackdown on the recent post-election protests which claimed the lives of nearly 20 people and countless more injured and detained. Furthermore, Khamenei is accusing America of meddling in its internal affairs:
In a lengthy sermon Friday that reaffirmed the disputed re-election of Mr. Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Khamenei made an oblique reference to a letter from the U.S. but embedded the reference in a diatribe against purported U.S. interference in Iranian affairs.
“The American president was quoted as saying that he expected the people of Iran to take to the streets,” Ayatollah Khamenei misquoted Mr. Obama as saying, according to a translation by Mideastwire.com.
“On the one hand, they [the Obama administration] write a letter to us to express their respect for the Islamic Republic and for re-establishment of ties, and on the other hand they make these remarks. Which one of these remarks are we supposed to believe? Inside the country, their agents were activated. Vandalism started. Sabotaging and setting fires on the streets started. Some shops were looted. They wanted to create chaos. Public security was violated. The violators are not the public or the supporters of the candidates. They are the ill-wishers, mercenaries and agents of the Western intelligence services and the Zionists.”
In other words, “Go pound sand, Mr. Obama.”
So I’m asking myself today, how come President Reagan was able to negotiate with the Soviet Union and topple its oppressive communist hold on half of Europe, while President Obama cannot even get the murderous Iranian government to take him seriously?
President Reagan understood that evil has to be defeated, not paused for negotiations. He was clear about removing communism from power. He was determined to outspend, outgun, and outthink the Soviets, and he made sure they knew that. Reagan boosted military spending, encouraged defense innovation, and had the free world back him up. That forced Gorbachev to the table, knowing that it’s actually him versus the Goliath.
Now look at President Obama. He’s extending open arms to rogue regimes like North Korea and Iran, and we get slapped in the face with more nuclear and missile tests. He’s cut military spending. He’s forbade the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. He’s closed Gitmo and sent detainees to island paradises. It took him days to order a rescue of an American captain held hostage by Somali pirates. Now it’s taken days before his strong condemnation of the violence against Iranian civilians. Our traditional allies like France, Britain, and Germany don’t even look to him for leadership, and yet he’s supposed to be the leader of the free world.
Come on, Mr. President. Step it up! Do you really think you can hold hands with Khamenei and Ahmadinejad and sing Kumbaya together?
