A Voice in the Wilderness In Defense of "Mere Conservatism"

Iran Update

President Obama turned his back on the Iranian protesters who tried to rally the world's support against a corrupt regime's "election" this past summer.

That was then, this was from last Wednesday's New York Times:

The contrasts were vivid: Pro-government supporters chanted ''Death to America'' and stomped on U.S. flags Wednesday while not far away, hundreds of opposition protesters denounced Iran's leaders and appealed to America's president to choose sides.

''Obama, Obama, you are either with them, or with us,'' the anti-government protesters chanted in Farsi, in an amateur video clip widely circulated on the Internet.

And what was President Obama's reponse this time?

Knowing the opposition was planning to march, Mr. Obama issued his own statement the night before that instead chose to reach out to the regime. America, he said, "seeks a relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran based upon mutual interest and mutual respect. We do not interfere in Iran's internal affairs." He went on to list the Administration's various efforts to appease the regime. So far and on all counts, the mullahs have rebuffed these entreaties.

The President made no mention of democracy or reference to the opposition directly, though in the last paragraph he did allow that "the world continues to bear witness to [Iranian peoples'] powerful calls for justice."

The Wall Street Journal asks Barack Obama the question on all freedom-loving peoples' lips:

Is this what he meant when he talked, at the start of his Presidency, about "restoring U.S. moral leadership"?