After three days, President Obama broke his silence on the Iranian elec tions late yesterday and said that, well . . . he's "deeply troubled."
But he won't be deterred from engaging Iran in direct diplomacy.
And he sure hopes there won't be any more bloodshed.
This, as tens of thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Tehran to protest the results of Friday's presidential election, in which incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadenijad was declared the landslide winner.
And as the government sought to suppress the protests by ordering its militias to fire into the crowds.
The president's public statement followed several days of cautious watching and waiting: First, the White House said it would accept the results. Then Vice President Joe Biden noted that "there's some real doubt" about the election.
Yesterday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs declared that "we continue to have concerns about what we've seen."
Finally, hours later, the president piped up -- in a manner of speaking.
What a contrast to five years ago -- when then-President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell angrily denounced the "fraud and abuse" in the Ukrainian elections, and warned of "consequences for our relationship."
The result: The Ukrainian Supreme Court ordered a re-vote, which ended in a victory for the democratic opposition.
Iranians should be so lucky.
NY Post, 6/16/09
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