Obama to hold press conference tomorrow

[jefferson_dem]

Obama to hold press conference tomorrow
Posted by jowilliams June 22, 2009 12:27 PM

WASHINGTON -- For the fourth time in five months on the job, President Obama will hold a news conference with Washington reporters -- this time, in the Rose Garden of the White House.

The White House said Obama will give a brief statement, thn take questions from reporters; the administration's communications staff would not release any advance details about what the president would say. The situation in Iran -- where a police crackdown on protesters has led to deadly violence -- will likely dominate the 12:30 p.m. news conference.

Critics on the right, including Republican Senators Lindsay Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona -- Obama's challenger in the 2008 presidential election -- have chastized the president for not openly supporting the demonstrators. Students and others took to the streets of Tehran in large numbers on charges that the ruling Iranian regime rigged the vote in leadership elections a few weeks ago.

Obama, however, has stressed that the regime would interpret any strong statement from him as US meddling in its domestic affairs, giving them an excuse to use an even more brutal hand with the demonstrators. Obama's defenders also note that taking sides wocould jeopardize derail ongoing American diplomacy aimed at convincing Iran to abandon its ambitions for a nuclear weapon.

After declaring that Iran itself should choose its own leaders, without violence, Obama used increasingly tougher but still restrained language on the situation over the weekend. As waves of Iranian security forces arrested and clubbed protesters, the president called on the Iranian government to end the "unjust" use of violence against its own people.

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http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/06/obama_to_hold_p.html

[TomCADem]

1. The Situation In Iran Vindicates President Obama's Strategy Of Not Acting Like A U.S. Great Satan

Here is an interesting and often forgotten point about President Obama's efforts to directly engage the Iranian people in a respectful, non-judgment, and non-threatening manner. Fareed Zakaria notes as follows:

# # #

CNN: What should the United States do?

Zakaria: I would say continue what we have been doing. By reaching out to Iran, publicly and repeatedly, President Obama has made it extremely difficult for the Iranian regime to claim that they are battling an aggressive America bent on attacking Iran. In his inaugural address, his New Year greetings, and his Cairo speech, there is a consistent effort to convey respect and friendship for Iranians. That is why Khamenei reacted so angrily to the New Year greeting. It undermined the image of the Great Satan that he routinely paints in his sermons. In his Friday sermon, Khamenei said that the United States, Israel, and especially the United Kingdom were behind the street protests, an accusation that will surely sound ridiculous to most Iranians. The fact that Obama has been cautious in his reaction makes it all the harder for Khamenei and Ahmadinejad to wrap themselves in a nationalist flag.

# # #

[Cha]

3. Thanks, I read that and

was passing it around yesterday..It made sense and more need to read it, imo.

[Clio the Leo]

4. And Brzezinski said the same thing....

.... when he appeared on Fareed's show this weekend. Applauded the President for what he was doing (or not doing) and said he was very impressed.

(And Mika must have listened to her daddy because she said the same thing this morning.)

[Cha]

2. Good..It's

time.