The Discerning Texan

Unbelievable. In a show of stupidity rivaling Jimmy Carter's disgraceful legitimization of the election stolen by Venezuelan thug Hugo Chavez, Iran botches its "election" about as badly as an election can be botched, yet President Barack Obama responds by completely screwing the pooch on what would have been a golden opportunity to show some statesmanship--just for once.

Like that was gonna happen...

Allah comments on the latest atrocity:

Steve Hayes had better not hold his breath waiting for that Obama speech. The White House says it’s full speed ahead on “dialogue.”

The Obama administration is determined to press on with efforts to engage the Iranian government, senior officials said Saturday, despite misgivings about irregularities in the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…

“This is the worst result,” said Thomas R. Pickering, a former under secretary of state. “The U.S. will have to worry about being perceived as pandering to a president whose legitimacy is in question. It clearly makes the notion of providing incentives quite unappetizing.”

Presumably the thinking here is that public outrage in Iran will weaken the mullahs’ hand against the U.S. and force them to accept some grand bargain, in which case Obama’s basically offering them legitimacy in exchange for denuclearization. The more likely outcome, though, is that the regime will continue to jerk him around while it builds a bomb and then count on its announcement that Iran has become a nuclear state to stoke national pride and win over its disaffected public. In which case Obama will have given them legitimacy in exchange for nothing. Terrific.

Meanwhile, the looney left is having a canyption fit over this, as documented by The Rhetorician:

Maybe it’s just too painful to see the Obama Effect backfiring in the foreign policy arena after it’s already failed to deliver in the economic policy one; but, at any rate, the Lefties are in fine form tonight:

Andrew Sullivan is equating Karl Rove and Sarah Palin to Iranian thuggery.

Meanwhile, CBS News and TNR are calling Ahmadinejad “Iran’s George W. Bush”.

What’s going on here? Does the American Left – after eight years of whining about make-believe tyranny – not know how to react to actual tyranny when it sees it in action?

It’s time to stand in solidarity with the people of Iran, not to try to score cheap political points. But, as I’ve noted before, the Left can’t help themselves when tragedy strikes.

As we speak, the BBC is reporting that the Islamic Republic is still being "challenged"; if freedom does prevail it will be no thanks to President Obama.

UPDATE: Rick Moran weighs the possibilities.