Day six of Iran’s post-election uprising, and all we can do is watch. Or at least, all we will — and indeed should do is watch. Not until Tuesday, four days after the Ahmadinejad government released its incredible tally pronouncing its own reelection by a 63-34 margin, did President Obama comment on the situation. And very measured comments they were, with an emphasis on honoring the will of Iranian voters rather than condemning the ruling faction.
Even these mild pronouncements were immediately seized upon by the beleaguered Iranian incumbents, accusing the U.S. of fomenting the massive unrest they now face.
This can’t come as a surprise to the Obama administration. The White House is aware of America’s status in Iran as a convenient boogeyman, earned by our history of meddling in matters of Iran’s leadership. Nevertheless, the Ahmadinejad/Khamanei junta’s tone-deaf attempt to start a “Death to America” stadium wave betrays its own panic (has invoking the U.S. become the Islamic fundamentalist equivalent of reductio ad Hitlerum?). Panicky finger-pointing is not the kind of behavior one expects from a party that supposedly just received a nearly two-thirds mandate.
Photo: Flickr/misterarasmus
In a curious inversion, the Iranian regime’s denouncement of the U.S. for its alleged interference on the side of the Mousavi supporters contradicts the statements of Obama’s political opponents here at home. John McCain, apparently seeking to cement his own irrelevance, accused the President of not supporting the protesters enough. Neocon wingnut punditiots took it a step further, declaring that the dastardly Obama actually wants the uprising to fail. I’m looking forward to their upcoming expose of how Obama is a Hezbollah sleeper agent whose campaign money actually came from Khamanei. And how he’s having the White House raised off its foundation and rotated so that the Oval Office points toward Mecca. I’d think up more of this ludicrous bullshit, but those clowns don’t need my help.
Plus, what could be funnier than the case of Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI): in light of Iranians’ use of Twitter to successfully circumvent their government’s blocking of internet and other channels of communication abroad, Hoekstra proved himself equally and inversely clueless by tweeting:
Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House.
The rest of Twitter, to its credit, promptly trained a fire hose of derision upon Rep. Douchebag.
Tags: (in)humanity, (in)justice, Ahmadinejad, assholes, Barack Obama, Iran, John McCain, punditiots, Twitter
