McCain must be on the “right day of the week” on Iran.
Sen. John McCain appeared on CBS’ Face the Nation this morning stating that the US needs to be on the “right side of history” in dealing with the Iranian dispute over election results and the subsequent mass protests.
“America’s position in the world is one of moral leadership,” the senator said. “It’s not about what takes place in the streets of Iran. It is about what takes place in America’s conscience.”
McCain said that while he “appreciates” President Barack Obama’s statement warning Iranian authorities that the world is watching its crackdown on protestors, he feels that statements by other world leaders, such as France’s Nicholas Sarkozy and Germany’s Angela Merkel, have been stronger than President Obama’s.
Haaretz.com reported Chancellor Merkel as being the first Western leader to publically call for a recount:
“Germany is on the side of the Iranian people, who want to exercise their rights of freedom of expression and free assembly,” she said in a statement.
“One could eliminate doubt, very well I believe, by simply repeating the count transparently and if needed also with international observers. And then trust could grow,” she later told reporters.
Press.TV reports President Sarkozy’s response on Friday as similarly critical. As the landslide victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran’s disputed election provoked unrest, French President Nicolas Sarkozy denounces the result of Friday’s vote as a “fraud.”
“The extent of the fraud is proportional to the violent reaction. It is a tragedy, but it is not negative to have a real-opinion movement that tries to break its chains. If Ahmadinejad has really made progress since the last election and if he really represents two thirds of the electorate… why has this violence erupted?” asked the French leader.
Senator McCain’s statements are fair and could be well taken but for the fact that by the time he said them they were redundant. They were redundant because at approximately 1pm yesterday President Obama’s press secretary issued an immediate release “Statement from the President on Iran.” The statement is short and worth printing in full.
So let’s compare shall we?
Merkel: “Germany is on the side of the Iranian people, who want to exercise their rights of freedom of expression and free assembly.”
Obama: “The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.”
Sarkozy: “The extent of the fraud is proportional to the violent reaction. It is a tragedy, but it is not negative to have a real-opinion movement that tries to break its chains.
Obama: “… suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.”
I see President Obama’s statements to be almost identical to those of Chancellor Angela Merkel and identical in spirit to those of President Sarkozy. The difference is not the power of the condemnation President Obama’s ability to condemn the Iranian Government’s reaction and support the protesting opponents without actually “meddling” by demanding an election recount.
I am left with the only rational conclusion I can draw from Senator McCain’s rhetoric. Senator McCain’s rhetoric is just that – vitriolic, grandstanding, divisive, polemic, sound-byte worthy and redundant. At best the right statement but a day late and a dollar’s worth of sincerity short
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