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January 13, 2009
That didn't take long
I notice today that Reuters has images (Israeli troops invade Gaza) of an Iranian protest where Obama's image was burned in effigy. Which reminded me of a quotation from one of Thomas Friedman's Op-Eds:
"If you’re a hard-liner in Tehran, a U.S. president who wants to talk to you presents more of a quandary than a U.S. president who wants to confront you,” remarked Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment. “How are you going to implore crowds to chant ‘Death to Barack Hussein Obama’? That sounds more like the chant of the oppressor, not the victim. Obama just doesn’t fit the radical Islamist narrative of a racist, blood-thirsty America, which is bent on oppressing Muslims worldwide. There’s a cognitive dissonance. It’s like Hollywood casting Sidney Poitier to play Charles Manson. It just doesn’t fit.”
Show Me the Money
Though I hoped this wonderful claim that Obama's heritage would somehow improve the tone of middle eastern diplomacy was true, I was deeply skeptical that it was possible. Now in light of this, I wondered if Sadjadpour's claim had been invalidated even before Obama took office. So I did a little digging, and I must report that it is thus invalidated.
The demonstrators, waving Palestinian flags, some chanting "Death to Obama," had gathered outside the Swiss embassy which handles U.S. interests because Tehran and Washington have not had diplomatic ties for nearly three decades.
Iranian protesters back Gaza and burn Obama picture
May our other hopes for the Obama presidency be not so readily dashed.
Posted by OneEyedMan at January 13, 2009 3:59 PM
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