re: #64 califleftyb

Um, blamin the fall of the Shah on Carter is pretty insane. The Shah fell because he was a corrupt and petty tyrant and got overthrown because of it. Blame his tyranny, blame the religious zealots, blame the CIA for toppling Iran’s democracy in the first place and setting up the Shah, but blaming Carter? Weird.

President Obama needs to avoid nice speeches and platitudes that are fine in an idealized world of Jeffersonian values and come to grips with the “realpolitik” of the streets of the Arab world bathed in the ideology of Islamic extremism. It will not measure up well against our beliefs and ideals, it may get ugly, but that is the hand we have been dealt, we need to be strong enough to play it.

That’s nice. Try saying something concrete. For someone objecting to nice speeches, you sure make them.