James Taranto (via sds) encouraging Obama to get more involved in Iran.
Is there a concise way to explain to the right why Obama has (wisely) kept a fairly low profile on the Iran issue? Let me try.
They don’t generally call the President of the United States the “Leader of the Free World” in Iran. Sovereignty is important to Iran, much as it is to the United States. You know how your mistrust of the UN is tempered by your confidence that the UN is too toothless an organization to bring all your nightmares to fruition? Much of the world feels the same way about unasked-for U.S. intervention.
Obama would doubtlessly love to see some changes in Iran. But for him to suddenly stick his nose into the matter could seriously screw things up. You know that movie scene where the hero and the villian have eachother at gunpoint? Now imagine that some random cowboy comes charging in shooting in the air and screaming, “Yee-haw Democracy! You guys behave, now.” Is that really going to help things?
But seriously, things are delicate there. The protestors need the mixed blessing of explicit U.S. support like I need cholera.
