Flip-Flop and Overtalk

Democratic presidential wannabe Barack Obama seems to be flip-flopping on his "unconditional" willingness to sit down to tea and crumpets with the dictatorial leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea.

Obama's vow to meet with such leaders during his first year in office, without preconditions, drew widespread and well-deserved criticism. Over the past few polling cycles, however, he's tempered that to something the focus groups say America wants to hear.

"Without preconditions," he now says, doesn't necessarily mean without "preparations" - that is, without lower-level, informal contacts that would set an agenda for any meeting between leaders.

In the case of Iran, that's surely a welcome move. Just this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency warned that Tehran continues to hide the truth about its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"There's no reason why we would necessarily meet with Ahmadinejad," Obama said Monday. "He's not the most powerful person in Iran."

And the Illinois senator's top foreign-policy adviser, Susan Rice, said over the weekend that Cuba must make "concrete progress" toward free elections, allow a free press and free political prisoners as a requirement to "initiate a process through engagement."

Of course, he hasn't fully ruled out sitting down with Tehran's tyrant, who has vowed to "annihilate" Israel and denies the Holocaust occurred and stones people to death for crimes such as adultery and immodesty in public.

These talks would have little (or no) effect on the government of Iran. A fundamentalist government which believes they are doing the will of Allah by fighting the infidel Americans who dare to let women go out in public wearing something that is pleasant to look at.

As GOP presidential contender John McCain said yesterday, "Many believe all we need to do to end the nuclear programs of hostile governments is to have our president talk with leaders in Pyongyang and Tehran - as if we haven't tried talking to these governments repeatedly."
Let's face it: Tehran, in particular, seems bent on building nukes - and continues to sponsor terror. Sitting down for a few photo ops isn't going to change that, and only someone as out of touch as Barack Obama would think it could!