January 11, 2009
Obama's 12 Step Program
by JeremyOut the window goes the Roadmap, in comes the 12 step program. President Obama, one step at a time, will build a healthy and rational relationship with reality (or he will come out of the closet and admit that he's secretly already got one):
First he's going see about fixing this Iran problem everyone's talking about. All that's needed is...
“a third party that everybody has confidence, wants to see a fair and just outcome. And I think that an Obama administration, if we do it right, can provide that.” Still, he emphasized certain stances that he said were not negotiable.Asked about the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Mr. Obama acknowledged that “it is more difficult than I think a lot of people realized.”
He said it would “take some time” to work out a system that respects law and solves the nettlesome problem of where to send potentially dangerous detainees.
But, Mr. Obama added: “I don’t want to be ambiguous about this: We are going to close Guantanamo.”
Soon we will learn that a diplomatic solution to the Iran problem will also turn out to be more difficult than a lot of people realized. And so the journey from hope to reality will move another step forward.
What I suppose Obama means by saying he's going to build a nice new relationship with Iranian fascists is that he has to go through the motions before he can earn the diplomatic clearance to say what he knows must be said about that regime.
The nice thing about Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs is that they can be counted upon to openly break any and all agreements the U. N. or the U. S. might make with them. Obama probably feels he needs to get in line and score one of these famous slaps in the face before he can openly announce what he must already know -- that you can't trust or negotiate with fascists and international crime organizations such as they are.
Think of it this way; a peaceful arrangement with the current regime in Iran would mean getting them to recognize Israel's right to exist, the right of the Iranian people to live in the free society they obviously want, etc, etc. If we want to respect where the Mullahs are coming from, then we have to embrace the fact that they find such requirements loathsome in the extreme. So if Ahmadinejad agrees to stop violently interfering with Israel or Iraq or with the pro-democratic movement in Iran, he's already lying. There is by definition nothing to negotiate.
So we're just waiting, I think, for Obama to tell us that no one could have anticipated the recalcitrance and dishonesty of the Iranian regime.
And I suppose he'll pretend to have similar revelations about many other problems around the world. Do I think Obama can make it all the way to a full acceptance of the reality of his new job? Yes he can.
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