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Why Obama Won't Talk Tough
Jewel Samad, AFP / Getty Images; Sipa / AP Photo
The easiest way to demonize the reformers in Iran, a senior administration official tells The Daily Beast's Richard Wolffe, is for the U.S. to align with them. Inside the Obama's PR strategy.
Plus, read more insight on Iran's election from other Daily Beast writers.
Is President Obama going wobbly on Iran?
His former presidential rival John McCain declared on the Today show that “he should speak out that this is a corrupt, fraud, sham of an election.” Other conservatives and neo-cons have piled on with the condemnations of both the regime in Tehran and the one housed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Eric Cantor, the House Minority Whip, attacked Obama’s position as “a step backward for homegrown democracy in the Middle East.” Nile Gardiner, a Heritage Foundation commentator, who once worked as a researcher for Margaret Thatcher a decade after she left Downing Street, termed the president’s policy “cowardly, lily-livered and wrong.” Them’s fightin’ words—which is precisely what the Obama White House wants to avoid in dealing with the Iranian regime and a disputed foreign election.
“We respect Senator McCain. But we saw the same philosophy on North Korea, where he badgered the Bush administration to be tougher. Now we have North Korea with enough material for several nuclear weapons.”
“We respect Senator McCain,” one senior administration official tells me. “But we saw the same philosophy on North Korea, where he badgered the Bush administration to be tougher. Now we have North Korea with enough material for several nuclear weapons. And we saw that the ‘tough’ approach on Iran employed by the Bush administration led to the Iranians now spinning a large number of centrifuges.”
Inside the Obama administration, the notion of tough talk is seen as highly counterproductive. The easiest way to marginalize and even demonize the reform movement is for the United States to align itself with the opposition. “Given the long history of the U.S. and Iran over the last 30 years, the issue is that you don’t want to insert yourself too much,” the senior official says. “Because otherwise it gives the Iranians a pretty easy excuse to paint one side as being with the U.S.”
That has left the White House with a complex problem of communications. How to express outrage at the violence without taking obvious sides and playing into the hands of a repressive regime?
“Using Obama’s moral authority—which he established very well with the Cairo speech—in a targeted, surgical way makes a lot of sense,” my well-placed source continues. “We have to be very smart as to how the president addresses this issue in the press and public statements.” Thus, in public, Obama has been careful—if not surgical—in talking about the elections, frustrating liberal friends and conservative critics alike.
“I do believe that something has happened in Iran where there is a questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures toward the international community that have taken place in the past, and that there are people who want to see greater openness and greater debate and want to see greater democracy,” Obama told reporters in the Rose Garden on Tuesday. “How that plays out over the next several days and several weeks is something ultimately for the Iranian people to decide. But I stand strongly with the universal principle that people’s voices should be heard and not suppressed.”
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
The Right Dumps Carrie
Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
Geithner's Stock Plummeting
Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
Obama's Bad Trip
Richard Wolffe is Daily Beast columnist and an award-winning journalist, and senior strategist at Public Strategies. He covered the entire length of Barack Obama's presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine. His book, Renegade: The Making of a President, was published by Crown in June.
Bush's Rose-Colored Glasses
Richard Wolffe is Daily Beast columnist and an award-winning journalist, and senior strategist at Public Strategies. He covered the entire length of Barack Obama's presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine. His book, Renegade: The Making of a President, was published by Crown in June.
Getting Obama Back in the Game
Richard Wolffe is Daily Beast columnist and an award-winning journalist, and senior strategist at Public Strategies. He covered the entire length of Barack Obama's presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine. His book, Renegade: The Making of a President, was published by Crown in June.
The inherent problem is that in doing nothing now, when the time comes for obama to act, he just might over-react !!
The fact that he's constraining himself from doing anything now is good evidence that he won't over react when/IF the time comes.
What a childish assertion Dave1959! and how inane to assume that someone as smart as out President would be as stuid as the Neo Con Right Wing LOL He beat them at their own game in the election so I have faith he is quite a bit smarter LOLOLOLOL
he is making the right call as Ahmadinejad is just waiting to blame all of this on the devils in the US and the idiot dill weed Republicans are soooooo full of hope that they too can find something to blame on Obama ....helps divert attention away from 2 Wars and a crashed economy THEY created.
What should he do? Invade Iran? Should he invoke sanctions with the idea that they do as America says and not as it does? Did America set those 80 men, women and children on fire? How the heck can America, with it's history even in Iran, can you say Iran-Contra, drugs for weapons, tell any other Nation what to do. All these Angry White Males spitting hate for President Obama, what a twisted message we send overseas.
What do you want him to do......invade?
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Obama is such a jerk.
Who cares what the GOP say especially on foreign Policy?
Who cares what they say regarding anything? THEY crashed the Economy, THEY started 2 Wars and they have behaved like small children since they lost the election. Their arrows have been so stupid that really the majority of people in this country now just laugh at them. Vitter? A Joke, Limbaugh? A Joke, Palin/McCain? A Joke and the sad little list of idiots goes on and on.
Obama's current position is that the US will not meddle in Iranian self-determination -- at least as long as the outcome is uncertain. Does anyone doubt that if the momentum for regime change reaches the point where change becomes inevitable that he will come out swinging and make sure the world knows that he really supported it all along? In fact, does anyone doubt that if change occurs that he will take full credit, based on campaign promises, a letter to Iran and a speech in Cairo, for changing the balance of power in the world?
And is anyone out there so naive as to believe that new regime and its supporters (and other similarly situated people seeking freedon) will be nearly as gullible as the rest of the free world is as to Obama's role in the whole matter?
It can be argued that Obama's policy is the right one because it maintains "optionality". But he cannot have it both ways -- nor can the free world. He cannot expect that the current diplomatic effort will send the same message to people living under oppressive regimes that we sent to the Polish people or the East Germans.
And whatever other worthwhile international objectives he may fulfill, he and his supporters will never be able to suggest that the quest for universal human rights and dignity were a part of that agenda.
well, yes, but back in the days of communist Poland, the US actually had some moral authority. It has all been squandered since then.
"well, yes, but back in the days of communist Poland, the US actually had some moral authority. "
You mean seeing as US and UK politicians pretty much abandoned Poland to Stalin; helped cover-up (or wilfully ignored) the Katyn massacre, and (in the case of the UK) treated the Polish soldiers that fought alongside the British and American (including but not limited to Monte Cassino) like crap.
Certain decisions and compromises might be defensible from a strategic or pragmatic point of view; but moral authority is simply a handy propaganda tool used to placate the average citizen.
HE has brought change already LOL The only things he has to change are the wars YOU GUYS started, Fixing the economy YOU GUYS trashed and making us a proud Nation again after BUSH ruining us all over the globe!
Deal with facts and do us all a favor misterdon, DONT reproduce since you have such a hard time with facts.
Mr. Wolffe,
You are wrong about considering the Mousavi led so called opposition, a real opposition. Mr. Mousavi is a member of the Islamic mafia ruling Iran and part of the same gang. The real opposition is in exile and the U.S. has placed them on a sham terrorist list as part of the appeasement policy towards the criminal mullahs. The U.S. administration ( President Obama's or any other) should take them off the sham list so that the real Iranians can take their country back. The mullahs' regime has to go just like the Hitler's regime had to go. The highest courts in Europe ordered the group off such lists in Europe for lack of any evidence. It is high time that the U.S. will do the same.
You are so right Meghan. Its a real sheam the "mainstream" media cannot see him for what Mousavi really is.
after 8 years of yelling and screaming ai Iran and NoKo, to no avail...only John MaCain would think it was productive and want to do it again.
Please remember that after "the axis of evil" speech, whatever was left to our relationship with Iran was gone....
Can the gran ol' party, with emphasis on OLD please STFUP
Obama won't talk tought because the road he always takes is down the middle. He tries to placate each side. The Iranians that are fighting and risking their life for freedom, needs to know that we are behind them. President Obama, this is the time to speak out--use that backbone if you have one.
Are you kidding me? Do you want to go back to the Bush - Cheney foreign policy? This is absolutely the right way to deal with Iran. We tried meddling - it doesn't work. A calm, thoughtful leader is what we need - not a cowboy. The clearest way to alienate ourselves even more from Iran is to pick a side.
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Mary-
Here's hoping
That you're not in charge
Of anything important out there in the world
Because you sure don't know
How to play your cards.
I did not like George Bush, but at least we had no doubt as to where he stood on an issue. President Obama, speak up on the issue of freedom for the Iranians.
Yeah, our own house is on fire and we need to be concentrating on putting it out before we're all out in the street, but sure, go ahead and poke a stick in the wasp's nest that is Iran.
Oh, please. Do you really not know where any U. S. President would stand on this issue? Does anyone think that President Obama would not like the people in Iran to have freedom?
Now I understand why 30 percent of Americans can't grasp this President's policies.
By the way - I read Richard's book - fantastic! If you are involved at all in politics, this is a must read. In fact, I am going to read parts of it to the Constitution class I teach.
President Obama almost never speaks out on an issue at the beginning, he'll wait and see which way the "wind blows" before he takes a stand--which still leaves us wondering where he stands.
The worst thing the President could do right now is shoot off his mouth and give Iran a platform from which to accuse him of meddling in their affairs. The best thing he can do is keep his mouth shut, at least for now.
The article is spot on with the logic of the Obama administration.
Obama doesn't just plan his next move. He plans the next three of four. This isn't just about a photo op, it's about strategy.
It is highly unlikely that the regime will fold. In the end, we'll still be stuck dealing with the same problems. If as antagonize the regime we'll have even less room to maneuver. The world already knows what we think on the subject.
The same foreign policy that we've always used hasn't worked. Perhaps a new approach is necessary. What have we got to lose? Not much... (The old way only made things worse and never stopped these regimes from completing their goals regardless.)
The essence of American foreign policy has been to deal with the regimes who could "give us the most" no matter how odious the regime might be. Obama's is not a new approach. It is merely a nuanced version of what we have almost always done -- conduct our affairs with no regard whatsoever for human rights and dignity. We stand 'em up and the citizens seeking freedom and justice in these pathetic places are faced with knocking them down by themselves -- at least until our brave leaders are sure that they will not end up supporting the losing side. We dislike losers more than we dislike tyranny and injustice.
And while it is early in Obama's term, our policy pronouncements around the world to date (and lack thereof) and our engagements with regimes who are blatantly abusive of the rights and dignity of their subjects do not auger well for the notion that morality will play any part in our relations with other countries. Realpolitik -- yes. But we'd better break all of our mirrors.
BTW -- these comments are not to be construed as an apologia for Bush and the neocons for whom no apology is possible. They are simply an observation that the Obama administration has concentrated our policy to be that the "right thing" is simply always going to be "the right thing for us" without regard to the moral implications of what we do. Business as usual.
Well, you nailed it. Realpolitik. Pragmatism. Thoughtful engagement...
The fact is we don't have a magic wand or all that much influence. We like to think we are an uber-nation but in reality, we are in a severe recession are fighting two wars.
I think Obama is doing the best and all that he can do. We can ask no more.
For someone so popular, the Prez really can't win. "He's doing too much!" "He's not doing enough, get off the tv!" "Call out Iran!" "Do something about those pirates!" And its only been 5 months...
Bottom line, no matter what happens they're going to get nukes. there's no indication whatsoever that either outcome will change that. We need to prepare for what that does to the power dynamics in the Middle East and avoid doing anything about these internal events that might create new problems.
Israel will stop them or die trying I would think.
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Mr. Wolfe your great in making things clearer to me. What the Obama administration including Sec. of State Clinton is to align with other allies especially around the middle east to make change for the reformers. We can not go in this one alone like the Iraq conundrum...I think that we have a better chance diplomatically with the middle east thanks in part of the Obama speech in Cairo to go in as a group with common values and interests and influence and help Iran in its new reform. Let us all pray for all the Iranians in succeeding in this goal.
Obama's foolish decision to not speak up for democracy has one fatal flaw.....the Mullahs are linking the opposition to the US anyway. Today the Admadinejad government accused the opposition of being in league with the "great satan" and accelerated their arrests and crackdown. Obama's silence simply gave the Iranian Islamo-fascists a green light to become more and more repressive and violent.
But now at least the rest of the world knows the US is not meddling.
The world knew we weren't meddling with the Germans when they exterminated the Jews too. We turned away a shipload of refugees destined for destruction. But we damn well didn't meddle.
Bragging about the merits of not meddling is a low, low bar. More likely to be slithered under than stepped over. But if that makes you proud of America, whatever.
There are good arguments for both camps. Neither has obvious merit over the other...
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It's easy to see why the president is being cautious in rhetorical responses to the protests in Iran, especially since Farsi has informed us all that American support for NGOs in the Bush years was the kiss of death for them. What is more complicated is the reaction of certain so-called conservatives. McCain, Lieberman, and others want a loud complaining response which will have the obvious effect of harming the reformists. I must therefore conclude that this result is the intended result for McCain, Lieberman and the like. So whose policy are they promoting here in freezing the reform movement in Iran? I think the answer is equally obvious and it is not the US national interest.
I look forward to posting on this site. and thank you, Richard for your insightful thoughts on this subject.
Many of you seem to have something between your ears irrespective of your politics.
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The most important point is that as far as I know, not a single member of the opposition has asked that the US speak out for them. In fact, they have unanimously indicated that this is an internal matter, and have only requested that no western government recognize the current government until the issue is settled. He would not be doing the opposition any favors by speaking up for them. This is NOT analogous to the WWII situation or Poland or E. Berlin. This is NOT about whether the US is about bullying or not.
I'm just thankful that Obama is pragmatic and has an understanding of the diplomatic nuance required in this matter.
Who says we are doing nothing? Just because that is what is being said doesn't mean a thing......I'm sure we are helping plenty...We just don't hear about it! GOBAMA!
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Toodogs,
So, explain to me, what is it that you find so distasteful about picking your fights? You make a logical argument for doing so, yet you say that you disagree. Step into a dogfight and you're probably going to get bit ...
As Obama supporters love to point out, he is our first African American president.
And he won't help support those fighting oppression with their lives just like any ignorant white president would.
Yes We Can! Yes We Can!
Now That's Change I Can Believe In.
Disclaimer: I am not a Republican/Cheney/Palin supporter. So relax Koolaid drinkers......
I dare you all to read this letter with an open mind. It was written and then read on the Glenn Beck show by a real American hero
I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?
Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:
One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.
Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.
Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.
Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.
Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!
Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.
Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.
Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Whywhat do you have against shareholders making a profit?
Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.
Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.
Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please tryplease stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.
Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.
Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.
I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.
From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.
We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.
Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.
John McCain's rhetoric on Iran makes me thank God this man was not elected. To use Cindy McCain's line, it sends a cold chill down my spine.
I think President Obama really thinks things through - totally. He arms himself with facts and specific details before making a decision. Also, his thinking leads me to believe that he considers not only today and tomorrow, but years down the road. He is so far ahead of so many people in his thinking. I find it amazing. Even if you do not agree with his policies, and no one can agree all the time, he is thoughful and logical about what he does.
We also must give the man some time to right things. He is not a magician. While we may all have our pet projects, he is only one man who has to deal with a Congress that is most often less than stellar.
As an educator I would like to see NCLB burned on the steps of the Capitol. But realistically I know that changing what is wrong in NCLB, will take time and patience. Will I get all the changes I want? Of course not. And anyone who thinks that way will never be happy with any leader.
Thank you.
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