The Obamessiah's New Tone

Remember the kerfuffle from the campaign trail where Barack Obama promised to meet with leaders of various terrorist-sponsoring nations without preconditions? Here's a refresher:

In the immediate aftermath of that statement, there was much confusion and parsing on exactly what Obama had committed himself to, even with Obama's VP pick, Joe Biden. At the time, I had blogged this:

One of the biggest [lies], of course, is the question of whether or not Obama will meet with dictators (specifically Iran) without preconditions. Last night, Biden said this:

Can I clarify this? This is simply not true about Barack Obama. He did not say sit down with Ahmadinejad.

Now consider the following:

Democrat Candidates Debate, July 23, 2007:

QUESTION: … [W]ould you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries? OBAMA: I would. And the reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them — which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration — is ridiculous.

NR's Byron York report on Sen. Joe Biden's comments about Obama after that debate:

Afterward, other candidates echoed Clinton's criticism. Sen. Joseph Biden, who has emerged as the clear-eyed antiwar realist in the Democratic race, told National Review Online that the idea of a president meeting with Ahmadinejad, Chavez, and others was "naïve." "World leaders should not meet with other world leaders unless they know what the agenda is, so you don't end up being used," Biden said.

Obama's website:

Diplomacy: Obama supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions…. [Note: Ahmadinejad is the president of Iran.]

For some supporting video, click here.

Clearly, what Biden said last night is absolutely inaccurate. Obama has pledged on the record to meet with Iran, Biden himself chastised Obama for pledging to meet with Iran, and Obama's own website pledges to meet with Iran, all without pre-conditions. There is no doubt.

Now, it appears that Obama is carrying through with his promise of sitting down for chit-chat with Iran:

President Obama did a quick pivot Monday, shifting his focus to foreign policy by contacting a handful of major world leaders -- including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nikolas Sarkozy -- as his new U.N. ambassador restated the desire for vigorous and "direct diplomacy" with Iran.

Obama spoke with the foreign leaders ahead of a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and his Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who was leaving immediately afterward for a trip to the region. Mitchell will go to Cairo, Egypt; Jersusalem, Israel; Ramallah in the West Bank; Amman, Jordan; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He will also visit Paris and London.

Back in the U.S., U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who was confirmed last week for the post, said Monday that Iran's refusal to meet international obligations will increase pressure on Tehran to drop its nuclear ambitions and cooperate with the United States and global community.

Besides pursuing nuclear weapons, Iran has called for the destruction of Israel and support for Hamas, a terror group designated by the U.S., Israel and the European Union.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Rice's remarks are not a departure from statements made previously by Obama the candidate.

She merely restated the administration position that no forms of communication should be off the table with the Islamic regime.

"Whether you were on the campaign trail or not, clearly this was something that generated a lot of coverage over the past two years. And I think Ambassador Rice was simply restating the position that the president had," he said.

That's reassuring, coming from our new President, who established his administration with the following acts:

Last week, I told you about President Obama's first call to a foreign leader--to Palestinian President/P.L.O. terrorist/Holocaust denier/Munich Olympic terrorist massacre paymaster, Mahmoud Abbas a/k/a Abu Mazen.

Today, Obama gave his first formal interview--to anti-Israel, pan-terrorist network Al-Arabiya (a rival to Al-Jazeera) a/k/a Terrorist News Network #2 (#1 is Jazeera).

Do you see a pattern here? It's kinda clear. Obama is taking a stand: He's on the side of the Islamic world and is signaling that to them, by honoring them with prominent firsts of his administration.

This isn't just symbolism. It's policy. It's gonna be a long and painful 4-8 years of pandering to the Islamic world. It was bad enough with Bush, but we ain't seen nothin' yet.

And don't forget about him closing Gitmo, one of the best tools America had in the war on terror. It appears that Obama is determined to side with our enemies rather than with us.

Great. That's just what we need. Looks like the Obamessiah is establishing his own 'new tone'...problem is, it's one that is likely to get Americans killed.

There's my two cents.