Obama’s Basic Training Base

Like a kid easily carried away by the rest of the class, the rookies from Washington got excited about the masses in Egypt. But then their position changed.

After more than two years since his taking of the White House, President Obama’s hobby has become apparent. He has an obsessive habit of tree climbing and then subsequently the desperate search for a way to get down; such as first pulling a gun out and shooting indiscriminately, but then later checking to see whether anyone got hurt. An example in recent last days: the riots in Egypt. Like a kid following the rest of the class without thought, Obama and Clinton reacted with enthusiasm to the crowds in Egypt. Well, you know the type. The kid who says “Let’s go!” to any idea thrown in the air by other children; the very kid who doesn’t stop for a moment to think about the consequences of his actions. It’s very easy to turn him onto something, especially when the shouting of his friends is getting stronger and heard in the background.

In this way, by willing to ingratiate himself with the masses, Obama leaped from the get-go and enthusiastically spoke in favor of the voices demanding change to the regime. What about the concern of a governmental vacuum in the event that Mubarak elopes to Saudi Arabia and, in the twinkle of an eye, the plunging of Egypt into chaos? Ah, no big deal. We must please the man on the street. Last weekend, Obama turned the expressions of support for the Egyptian demonstrators into a show of extreme irresponsibility when he announced that a process of power transfer in Egypt should begin immediately — a demand for “free and fair elections” to the cheers of the Egyptian mobs. In other words, elections now, but a flood later on. Hopefully a suitable ark will be found when the rain begins to fall.

After only five days, in the White House they are starting to realize what trouble they will face; complete anarchy in Cairo: lawlessness, increasing violence and perhaps even a civil war. Suddenly, Mubarak has to stay. Without batting an eyelid, Secretary of State Clinton explained that Mubarak’s early departure could be problematic. As if she and President Obama had not unleashed the dogs several days before, whispering Mubarak’s name into their ears, adding on “Grab him!”

This is a thing about the Americans; at least, in the shift to the current president. Just ask Prime Minister Netanyahu, who to this day can’t understand how the Americans jumped in, following the Palestinian request, to freeze the building of settlements in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. “Yes, yes. A freeze,” they eagerly responded. Why? Just because the Palestinians had thrown an idea into the air (which even they didn’t think would be accepted), and the rookies in Washington said “Let’s do it!” It’s also true that afterward they cracked their heads for several long months over how to get out of this predicament. But of course, that was already too late, and the rest is obvious.

One more word on hypocrisy and maliciousness; stupidity can still be forgiven, but when you see Obama’s hysterical support for hundreds of thousands of Egyptians who crowded the streets, it’s difficult not to recall an almost identical situation which occurred in the summer of 2009. Not far from here in Tehran. Then, hundreds of thousands were out on the streets, too. Throngs of people who suffered, and are still suffering, from tyranny and wickedness way harsher than that experienced in Egypt. They begged for a little of the West’s support. They only lacked this to push the protest one step further — and who knows how it would have played out had that support arrived.

President Obama looked out of the window, and all he managed to issue out of his mouth was that the results of the elections in Iran should be accepted (even though those results were faked in a most brutal way) and that he’s expecting a fruitful dialog with the Iranian leadership. The Iranian protesters may have been struck by the Revolutionary Guards, but the most painful strike they received was from the smug, arrogant and hypocritical American president, with a touch of malice. A president of the sort who gets up in the morning and, instead of looking towards the east, he has a look at his bottom, out of an absolute faith that the sun will pierce and shine from there at any minute.