Obama Shows No Empathy

Obama Shows No Empathy

by Mark Luedtke

To mark the date of the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian protest movement demonstrated for the freedom to govern themselves, the same freedom they thought they had won 31 years previously. The Iranian regime orchestrated counter demonstrations in support of the government and implemented a virtual news blackout so they could control the story. As a result, it's hard to know the details of what happened.

According to mainstream news sources, government supporters, the government-backed Basij militia and Republican Guard security forces vastly outnumbered and violently suppressed the protesters in Tehran in a victory for the government. But exiled Iranians tell a more complete story. Amir Abbas Fakhravar reports that the Iranian government paid $250, a huge sum for an Iranian, to militia members to travel to Tehran in support of the government. Fakhravar claims over 2 million protesters marched across the country while only 200,000 supporters marched in Tehran. The Iranian government tried to shut down Google's email service, Twitter, cell phone service and other means for protesters to communicate with the outside world, but it wasn't completely successful. As a result, many reports leaked out that support Fakhravar's claims.

But all reports agree the government used violence against the protesters. Basiji militiamen beat opposition leader Mousavi's wife. Security forces used teargas and beat protesters. According to the Christian Science Monitor, "The latest fear tactics include executions of demonstrators, arrests of top intellectuals and rights activists, detention of a group called Mothers in Mourning (mothers of political prisoners), and torture of detained protesters." American hearts break for these protesters who risk their lives to fight for their freedom.

Yet President Obama remains silent.

The BBC, Deutsche Welle, Voice of America and the US government condemn the Iranian government for shutting down communication channels, but President Obama remains silent on the human rights abuses.

If Obama was to take sides in the internal politics of Iran, it could galvanize support for the crumbling regime against outside influence. But there's a tremendous difference between interfering in the politics of a foreign nation and standing up for the basic human rights of all individuals. The President of the United States should never remain silent while a government beats and kills citizens in the streets.

A Reaganesque speech on the sanctity of human life and desire of all people to be free would have shored up America's flagging credentials as a champion of freedom. Obama's poll numbers could use the boost too. It wouldn't even have to mention Iran.

The problem is Obama can't deliver that speech because he doesn't support freedom. Since Obama burst on the scene three years ago, he's never advocated freedom. He never talks about freedom. He never champions freedom. He never proposes a policy based on freedom. Obama is the enemy of freedom on every issue. Not just on the big issues like health care, education, and energy. Every item of the Obama agenda is based on taking more money from Americans by force and further restricting us. Every item of the Obama agenda further oppresses Americans. If Obama waxed poetic about the struggle for and benefits of liberty, he'd be laughed off the stage. He would invite analysis of his agenda from the perspective of freedom (an analysis criminally neglected by the accomplice press), an analysis his agenda couldn't survive.

But he can still give one of his patented uplifting speeches and focus it on human rights. Right?

Or maybe he can't. Maybe that's why he hasn't. Since we've known Obama, he's shown a disturbing lack of empathy and respect for the common man. He told us how he patronized his grandmother. He sought out and joined the anti-American church of Rev. Wright. He partnered with Bill Ayers in multiple projects knowing that Ayers was a terrorist who bombed his own country. He befriended ex-PLO spokesman Rashid Khalidi. He trained agents for ACORN which broke into banks as a tactic. Millionaire Obama didn't offer a dime to aid his Kenyan brother who lived on less than $1 a month. Obama's tax returns show he never gave money to charity until he came under scrutiny as a national politician. Obama's pattern of behavior shows an affinity for violence and a lack of empathy for the common man. His behavior is not normal.

Obama supporters, supposedly supporters of human rights, will excuse Obama's silence as good politics. Baloney. Obama's domestic agenda is in jeopardy. The people have resoundingly rejected Obamaism. Democrats could lose 70 seats in the House. Obama desperately needs to win some support from mainstream Americans on an issue - any issue - and he had no better opportunity than joining the American people in showing empathy for the oppressed Iranian protesters. Reagan would have championed their human rights. Bill Cllinton would have claimed to feel their pain. The only way Obama could be so oblivious to the political opportunity is if he has no empathy for the American people either. Empathy seems to be as alien to Obama as an honest job. That's scary.

Maybe an aid will yet convince Obama to do the right thing, but the prime opportunity has passed.

The good news is the Iranian regime is a lot shakier than previously thought. President Ahmadinejad's propaganda that Iran had already enriched uranium to 20 percent and given it to scientists won't feed the hungry supporters he had to pay to attend his rally. Western so-called experts misjudge the protest movement as weak because it has no leader, but in reality it's strong because it's not centrally planned. Iran's grassroots protest movement hasn't been hijacked by the political class so it has real power to bring down the mullahs and install a secular government unlike America's tea parties which have transformed into statist Republican campaign events. The bad news is incompetent Obama might attack Iran to gain support for midterm elections before the mullahs fall and strengthen the regime in the process.

--

References:

Iran goes to war with Google. News organizations and the US government condemn the Iranian government for blocking broadcasts, but Obama still hasn't condemned the government for using violence on its citizens. Government pays Basij members to attend pro-government rally. This guy, Amir Abbas Fakhravar, claims the protesters want regime change and outnumbered government supporters. Government supporters beat reformer's wife. The Christian Science Monitor lays it out. Government supporters and security forces outnumber anti-government protesters in Iran.

Stanley Kurtz continues to pull the viel back on Barack Obama, revealing a very ugly man. In this essay he links, through documentation, Obama, Wright, and Ayers with extremist black supremists and segregationists. Stanley Kurtz explodes Obama's latest lie that he never worked for ACORN. Stanley Kurtz explains how Obama's ACORN used the CRA and intimidation tactics against local banks on the one hand and lobbied congress and the Clinton administration for lowering credit standards at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on the other during the 90s, precipitating today's financial meltdown.

LATimes insider claims to have seen clips of tape of Obama, Ayers, and Dorhn at Rashid Khalidi's going away party, and he claims Obama said that Israel has no right to occupy Palestine and that Israelis were carrying out genocide against Palestinians.

Obama refused to help his brother in Kenya who lived on "less than a dollar month".

Shocking information about Obama and Biden's tax returns. Despite making over $200,000 each, they give virtually nothing to charity, and they save virtually nothing.