The Iran Test: Ex-Advisor to Lady Thatcher Questions Apologist Speeches at Prague and Cairo

See the above video of C-Span. Senator John McCain gives a tributary speech to Neda Agha-Soltan who was brutally shot by Iranian police when she attended a democracy movement on the street in Tehran. Despite mounting pressure across the United States and overseas, President Barack Obama is still obsessed with the past CIA coup d’état to topple Mohammed Mossadegh and too hesitant to assume leadership to act against Iran. Supposed to be Kantian leaders of Europe, such as President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, are more active to support Iranian resistance.

It is almost six month since the inauguration. I mark the famous words by Vice President Joseph Biden, and I regard this crisis as the most critical test for President Obama. The media across the world bowed down and praised President Obama’s speeches at Prague and Cairo to repent for arrogant global strategies of past presidents. Current crises cannot be managed through such apologist appeals of populism, and the world needs a strong superpower to defeat threats to our liberal world order. North Korea is just a test for a crisis management skill, but Iran is beyond this. It is a real test for Barack Obama’s moral leadership on the global stage and his loyalty to American values. Conservatives have been questioning them ever since his wife Michelle’s extremely well known remark of For the first time, I feel proud of my country.

The Washington Post discussed Obama’s leadership credential over the Iranian Crisis, and quoted pro-con commentaries by experts (“Iran Unrest Reveals Split in U.S. on Its Role Abroad”; Washington Post; June 23, 2009). Among them, I am impressed with one by Nile Gardiner, Former Foreign Policy Researcher for ex-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Gardiner says "It's almost as if the president lacks confidence in the greatness of his own nation. He seems unwilling to aggressively project American global power, as if it were something to be ashamed of." This is what I have been feeling exactly since the Prague and the Cairo speeches.

Currently, Nile Gardiner is the Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation. Gardiner criticizes President Obama’s apologism in his articles. He points out “The world today is considerably more dangerous than it was in the days of the Bush Administration, and the Obama White House has nothing to show for its weak-kneed efforts. The brutal truth is that the United States is increasingly viewed as a soft touch by its enemies, increasingly jeered rather than feared.” However, Gardiner insists that it is not too late for Obama to change Carter-styled diplomacy (“Barack Obama should stop apologising for America”; Daily Telegraph; 3 June 2009). In another article, Gardiner lists problematic apologies, and said “American leadership is not a popularity contest, nor should it be an exercise in self-loathing. Rather, it is about taking tough positions that will be met with hostility in many parts of the globe. Above all, it demands the assertive projection of American power, both to secure the homeland and to protect America's allies” (“Barack Obama's Top 10 Apologies: How the President Has Humiliated a Superpower”; Heritage Memo; June 2, 200).

Mark Hyman, Commentator of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, comments much more bitterly, and he says that Obama’s foreign policy comes from spiritual influence of his childhood mentor, Pastor Wright, notorious anti-white agitator (“Jeremiah Wright Foreign Policy”; American Spectator; June 26, 2009).

The global public has marked the words by Joseph Biden. Now, it is time to mark the words by Nile Gardiner. The media and global liberals love to see President Obama apologize for and humiliate America. The Iran crisis tells us how dangerous that sort of populism is. Will the President transform himself from Barack Carter Obama into Barack Truman Obama?



See the following video comments by Nile Gardiner.

Fox New 5; June 16, 2009
Fox Business; June 17, 2009