Obama On Iran: "The World Is Watching"

(CBS)  Responding to reports of continued violence in Tehran, following a warning by Iran's Supreme Leader that further election protests may lead to "bloodshed and chaos," President Barack Obama said today, "The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching.

With the tensions rising in Iran, Mr. Obama is monitoring the situation with senior advisors, but he continues to maintain his reserve on the topic. Rather than directly criticizing the Iranian government's actions, he expressed more lofty thoughts.

In a statement released this afternoon by the White House, the president said, "We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

"As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

"Martin Luther King once said, 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.' I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples' belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness."

As the election protests have played out this past week, the president has received criticism by some for evincing a tone that was judged too soft.

For example, on Fox News Senator John McCain said, "People are being killed and beaten in the streets of Tehran and all over Iran, and we should stand up for them … the way we stood up for the Polish workers in Gdansk, the way we stood up for the people of then Czechoslovakia in the Prague Spring, and we have stood up for freedom in every part of the world. We're not doing that."

In a nutshell, Mr. Obama doesn't want to provide President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the ammunition needed to make the United States a bad actor in his play by accusing Washington of interfering with Iran's internal political process.

In an interview Friday with CBS News' Harry Smith, Mr. Obama said, "The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States. That's what they do. That's what we've already seen. We shouldn't be playing into that. There should be no distractions from the fact that the Iranian people are seeking to let their voices be heard.

"Now, what we can do is bear witness and say to the world that the, you know, incredible demonstrations that we've seen is a testimony to, I think, what Dr. King called the arc of the moral universe. It's long but it bends towards justice."

Time Magazine's Joe Klein, who was recently in Tehran, believes that Mr. Obama is taking the right approach: "If Barack Obama were sounding like John McCain, the tanks would have been in the streets days ago, with hundreds, perhaps thousands of people killed, and a ready excuse that would have great credibility with the Iranian people: the U.S. was at it again, trying to foment a revolution to overthrow the duly elected government of Iran."

[bertiebon22]

Of course this is another stunt played by the zionists

[8razman]

We weren't established as a Christian nation. Otherwise, the Declaration of Independece would say "Christian God" and not "Nature's God".

I said this nation was "founded" on Christian principles. I did not say we were founded AS a Christian Nation. Nature's God? Who created nature? You're merely playing with words.

[8razman]

Well dazzle us here. Tell us all about the SUCCESS of the Extreme Right and Bush... It would seem to me, given that we had the WORST Attack against this nation in HISTORY on their watch and the fact that those who attacked us are in a safe haven, Bush Created and we are near bankrupt from fighting in ANOTHER Country that had NOTHING to do with any attack on us... that SHOULD be enough failure for you and those like you... FOR a LIFETIME!! Let's let the President do his Job and AFTER its over you can then criticize! Be an AMERICAN for a change, it won't hurt.

Thanks for telling me when I MAY critize. Obviously, you know all the inside details of our governments involvement with just about everything. You are the gospel oh mighty one.

MOM, junior is on the computer again!

[Bayou123]

Obama called for the Iranian Government to stop the violence against it's own people. That is a joke coming from Obama. The American government destroys American's lives that use marijuana everyday. Like the saying, "do as I say, not as I do".

[molsondog]

Ya know. We have become a nation of people that talk a lot and do nothing. We've come to believe that posting in forums, making comments on Twitter, saying things on YouTube, and just mouthing off at the office are actions that will affect change. Wrong. We can all talk our heads off, make thousands of postings and NOTHING will change. We need to get face to face with the people that actually make things happen. Your co-workers at the office can't affect a vote in congress no matter how much you mouth off. Each of us needs to be front and center with our representatives, senators and congressmen. Write to them, call them, meet with them. Form a protest and walk to thier offices. THEY make things happen and we need to gewt our demands and desires in their faces and on their minds. We've become a country of talkers and are wrongly assuming our misdirected ******** is of value.

Find out what is going on: http://thomas.loc.gov/
This site will list all the current bills and motions that affect us.

Learn about the Legislative Process
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.toc.html

A complete list and easy way to contact your representaives
http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm
(You can use this even if you are a liberal .... just USE IT)

Now .... stop wating energy by blindly ******** and go and make things happen!

[tbbaot]

"The world is watching"...but doing nothing.

[I_LOVE_Texas]

Obama is falling fast: "The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 32% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-four percent (34%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -2. That?s the President?s lowest rating to date and the first time the Presidential Approval Index has fallen below zero for Obama"

[demongirl60]

I think jis3769 said it best.... the people of Iran, especially the YOUNGER people, are sick and tired of a bunch of grey-bearded old BILLYGOATS telling them what they can and can't do. The winds of freedom are starting to blow in Iran and THAT'S what all these "religious leaders" and "guardian counsel" A-Holes are afraid of. THEY'RE AFRAID OF LOSING POWER AND CONTROL. Yes? No?

[krotec54]

You are so right. Yes, the religious leaders are afraid of losing control; this would start the beginning of the end of Islam.

[krotec54]

Yes, as the World watches, here comes Super 0bama to save the Planet.

[airboatboy]

Surely Obama can come up with "weapons of mass destruction" or "axis of evil" or something! Come on, the right wingers are getting a little disappointed!