Well, let me weigh in here on world politics. Something I don’t do in a public forum. Except at work, school, driving by myself in the car. You know. More a hobby, really.
I work in a place with nice people. But it’s a small, family business and strangely a very conservative atmosphere. I don’t know them very well, but the Fox news network is on many nights (2 out of 3 that I’ve worked there). Last night they had the kooks on Fox weighing in on Iran. My boss’s son said something like (loose quotes here): “That’s over there! We have our own problems here!”. The expert talking head (it was Michael Bolton, er John Bolton) said something like “Obama’s too timid about this Iran thing! He’s no Reagan! Look how Reagan handled this issue back in the day! Supported Poland’s workers demonstrating! Etc. Etc.!” When Ann Coulter came on, I kind of tuned out. Horrible viper mandroid. Full of venom and bad logic. There’s an ad hominem argument right there for you, wink wink nudge nudge. Hey, I don’t expect me to not commit logical errors – I don’t write books and have TV shows and make a jillion dollars doing this thing I am doing now.
Now, say what you like about our President. I feel like he’s a great speaker but is failing to live up to his potential. I recognize his hands our tied; after all, he’s the President of the U.S. Policy decisions are not just about him – he’s got a million mouths clamoring to be heard and the jingle of hands in pockets all throughout Washington to drown out his one voice. But, it’s my opinion (however unworthy it may be) that he’s playing it smart on this Iran thing. Conservative prodding to get him to interfere is poorly aimed: they can clamor on how they like about ethics and ideals but that don’t stop them from enabling their fatcat buddies from ripping us all off. Greed and the vested interests in D.C. are another post entirely.
But, it’s my opinion (YMMV!) that directly interceding in Iran’s politics at this point is bad news. I assume it’s the State Department’s intent to let Iran draw down the ire of the world upon itself, rather than interceding on the behalf of “Democracy in Iran” directly. Why? Well, we’ve got N. Korea barking for attention, Israel/Palestine to contend with, a collapsing (collapsed) economy to sort out. The whole world is watching Iran right now. The E.U. is rallying against the Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad (spelling, sorry). The election appears to be rigged from outside. Did they rig it? Who knows? Would a totalitarian, theocratic society allow its citizens to vote while having no intention of honoring the vote? Well, history tells us this happens all the time. Democracy or not. What are we gonna do? Send over choppers and troops and guns and make things much much much worse? That costs money! If the people in Iran get pissed off enough, they might revolt themselves and do most of the work that what might do without us nosing in. Just an opinion.
Furthermore, we no longer live in the world of Ronald Reagan. Stupid Fox people. They offended me their illogical thinking and animosity towards a guy based on partisan politics. I think Obama is cleverer than they think by far. I did vote for him, mostly to keep idealogues out of the White House. I mean dumb idealogues and trigger happy ones. Actions our Government takes need to be weighed heavily and no amount of foaming at the mouth ought to sway the man behind the curtain. Obama! If you can read or hear this, just keep your cool, man!
Keep an eye on this situation. I mean, if you like.
