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Contributed by Sam Minervino 2009-03-22

Portland — Former President Bush used hard-line diplomacy to keep in check the terrorist nations such as Iran. I know it is hard for some people to admit that his methods worked but they did. Bush’s critics said this caused many people in the world to hate us and that we needed a “change” in our international diplomacy to win back the love of everyone. Obama was suppose to re-define the term “ugly American”—used to describe boorish people from the U.S. insensitive to those in other countries, the image supposedly personified by the Neaderthalic Bush. In the halls of academia where Obama supposedly reigned both as brilliant student and scholarly professor, everyone gets along when the olive branch is presented and group hugs ensue. Maybe he should have sent a little more time in the real world.

A news article from the Telegraph.co.uk and titled, “Iran rejects Barack Obama's hand of friendship” embodies the Presidents fundamental lack of understanding of human nature especially when it comes to other cultures. The self righteous, egotist Obama thought that just because he was nice to the 69 year old cleric, Iran’s supreme spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, everyone would hug and the world would live in harmony. Meanwhile, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “They (Obama and America) give the slogan of change but in practice no change is seen… We haven’t seen any change”, as tens of thousands of his hard-line followers chanted their familiar refrain of “death to America, according to the Telegraph.

Now it is reported that “Mr. Obama is thought to be planning a “grand gesture” to Tehran in the near future, where he will offer… dramatic new incentives if it abandons the nuclear programme,” according to the Telegraph. In just speaking with people who have been to these Arabic nations and have interacted with the native people there socially and for business, gives one a fundamental understanding of the mindset of their culture. They exploit perceived weakness and they respect power. Theirs is a culture untainted by political correctness. As we teach our children to play only nice, the children over there are brought up in the realities of human nature. They don’t trust anyone and lying is an acceptable form of negotiating. So, they expect us to be prevaricating and they expect us to understand they are lying to us. They grasp the dark side of human nature and strengthen themselves to it while we only teach the nice part and deny reality. By telling the leaders of Iran we are going to give them something if they are nice just re-enforces them to be even worse because they are being rewarded for their ill-deeds. Now, instead of making nice-nice with us they will be even worse because the weak Obama will offer them even more. While Bush held a hammer over them, Obama offers them a foot-rub for their nasty foot and they tell him their other foot smells even worse but he still has to rub that one too.

And so, while Obama is ready to nail America’s CEO’s to the cross for being greedy capitalists, he wants to be all palsy walsy with those who will blow up children on buses, stone women for dressing provocatively, and crush gay people. He would rather be buds with a government known to support insurgents in Iraq who are killing innocent men, women and children as well as our own service people. Maybe he should stick to picking on mentally challenged people.