It's no surprise that corporate media hacks are parroting the reflexive Republican criticism of President Obama's handling of the ongoing crisis in Iran. That a political irrelevancy named John McCain would attack the president is no surprise. Nor is it a surprise that McCain's pet poodle and wannabe relevancy, Lindsey Graham, would do the same. Nor is it that the corporate media validate such paragons of incompetence and mendacity. None of them care about Iran. They only care about themselves.
The reality is that a U.S. president has to walk a very fine line, when addressing a potential revolution in a foreign sovereign nation. Particularly a foreign sovereign nation that the U.S. has done so much to meddle with, through the decades. And most particularly a foreign sovereign nation that the U.S. has done so much to meddle with, through the decades, that is right next door to another foreign sovereign nation that the U.S. currently has under military occupation. So, it also should come as no surprise that we are already seeing what was reported by the BBC, on Monday:
Western powers are seeking to undermine Iran by spreading "anarchy and vandalism", the foreign ministry says.
A spokesman said foreign media were "mouthpieces" of enemy governments seeking Iran's disintegration.
Get it? The best way for the U.S. to undermine the legitimate revolution in Iran is to attempt to make it our own. To give the Iranian hardliners the opportunity to paint it as yet another attempt at imperialistic manipulation. The president understands this. His critics do not. In a pathetic attempt to score cheap political points, Senators McCain and Graham, and their corporate media enablers, are pushing the president to do exactly what he shouldn't be doing. Meddling. His condemnation of the Iranian crackdown has been carefully calibrated. His critics are being reckless and dangerous.
Update [2009-6-23 21:51:56 by Turkana]: I just want to make clear: expressing dissent is patriotic, and disagreeing with the president is not, in itself, a bad thing. The point is that following this advice would be disastrous. And for members of the White House Press Corpse to be acting as if this advice is in any way credible is... sadly not surprising.