State Dept. Rescinds Fourth of July Invitations to Iran Diplomats: Obama Silliness on the World Stage

This morning the AP is reporting that the State Department has rescinded invitations sent out to Iranian diplomats to attend Fourth of July celebrations held in American embassies across the world. The reason given was this quote from Sec. of State Hillary Clinton published by AFP:

“Unfortunately, circumstances have changed, and participation by Iranian diplomats would not be appropriate in light of the unjust actions that the president and I have condemned,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a cable to US diplomatic mission abroad.”

Hillary claimed it was “circumstances” that led to the rescinding of the invitations. Yet one can’t help but wonder if the real circumstance was the growing anger of the American public?

It was just yesterday that President Obama said this regarding the invitations given to the Iranian diplomats:

From FOX News:

“Iranians will have to decide whether they want to attend Fourth of July celebrations at

U.S. embassies, President Obama said Tuesday, linking their attendance to the potential for warming between the two nations.

The United States and Iran don’t have formal diplomatic relations but Obama said that it’s up to the Iranian diplomats to decide whether to use an invitation to attend embassy festivities as an opening.

“I think that we have said that if Iran chooses a path that abides by international norms and principles, then we are interested in healing some of the wounds of 30 years in terms of U.S.-Iranian relations. But that is a choice that the Iranians are going to have to make,” Obama said during a press conference in the White House briefing room.”

So what happened in less than 24 hours that made Obama’s State Department rescind the invites? Was it, as the administration claims, due to the “unjust actions” of the Iranian government that Hillary and Obama have “condemned”? Or was it something closer to home, such as a realization that the American public had issued their own “condemnation” of the Obama administration when, over the course of the weekend and up to yesterday, Obama, under the aegis of his State Department, refused to rescind those pesky invites to a brutal regime to come over and have a hot dog and celebrate America’s celebration of freedom from tyranny?

I believe it was the latter, that Obama and his political minions put their collective fingers to the prevailing public wind and realized that they had made a huge political blunder. Now they’re trying to obfuscate the matter by claiming they’ve managed to find a conscious and have grown a spine in less than 24 hours.

For those who believe the cancellation of the invitations is worthy of praise, it’s time to get a clue. It wasn’t until the American public found the tepid response of Obama’s to the ongoing situation in Iran to be an example of poor leadership that he began to change his “tone” and issue his rather weak “condemnation” of the Iranian government. The same goes for Hillary. Their actions can now be used as prime examples of Obama style “diplomacy”. In this case, “apologists” and “appeasers”.

Obama’s Track Record of Condemnations

So far, the country that Obama has “condemned” the most is the United States by way of claiming that our “reputation” has been tattered and tarnished and that, as President, he’ll be the one to restore our “reputation” abroad. Yet he’s always been rather ambiguous as to just “whose” opinion he’s referring to. Perhaps it’s time to ask the President to get specific. After all, even in the United States court of justice, the accused is allowed to know who the accuser or accusers are during trial and before a conviction.

Obama’s quest to “restore” America’s reputation abroad stems for the most part from political strategy that came to fruition from pre-election “focus” groups of American voters as well as international “polls”. It was from these focus groups and polls that Obama spoke so “passionately” about America’s “bad” reputation and the need to restore it. You can bet the decision to rescind the Fourth of July invitations to Iranian diplomats occurred only after Obama’s political strategists “gauged” the public’s reaction. The reaction after learning of the invitations and then finding out as late as yesterday that the invitations were still “good”.

What we’re learning is this: Obama isn’t quite as “firm” on issues or stances as we’re led to believe. Instead, his stances stem from strategies based on “data” gleaned from focus groups and polls and then the public reaction to specific actions undertaken by the Obama administration. Which leads us to Obama’s fundamental or core beliefs regarding the United States and the global community.

It’s obvious that we’re as of yet unable to ascertain just what those “beliefs” are. It wasn’t until Obama learned from his strategists that the American public as well as the global community were dismayed and angered over his refusal to take a stand that Obama stepped up the rhetoric and then rescinded the Fourth of July invitations less than 24 hours after he stated that it was “up to the Iranians” whether they wanted to attend. What the public was told was this, that Obama had to “walk a fine line” when dealing with the crisis in Iran. That, if he said “too much”, those naughty Iranians would blame the protests on the United States.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has always blamed its problems on outsiders such the United States, Israel, and the U.K.. And yet, when Iranian citizens were being beaten and shot dead in the streets the Obama administration and Obama suddenly decided that being blamed by the Iranian government was worse than the alternative of taking a hard stance against the brutal violence. One can’t help but wonder what new international focus groups or polls would say about that rather silly response of Obama to the crisis in Iran. Regarding Iran, rather than “world leader”, “Silly” and “Vague” are the new roles that Obama and Hillary have just played on the world’s stage.

By LBG

Image – Dark Arts Media

Tags: celebrations, diplomats, Fourth of July, Hillary Clinton, invitations, Iran, Obama, rescind, State Department