In this blog and in columns before Election Day 2008, I have warned that Mr. Obama was in danger of being seen as congenitally weak. For some time now, he has needed to take actions — even actions that might cut against his grain — to establish that he will be resolute in the face of challenges.
In the last few days he has sharpened the growing impression that he is not a man of strength. Whether it is his apparent lack of action against the ship carrying suspect North Korean cargo or — even more so — his by-far-too-measured statements about the upheavals in Iran, his actions and statements are raising a dangerous question… not dangerous simply for his political standing at home but for America’s position in the world. The question is, will Mr. Obama take a stand, a clear stand in favor of U.S. interests and values?
Serving in the White House as the Soviet Union crumbled, I know very well the imperative of measured statements. But I also know how heartening and how essential an American president’s words can be for those who are putting their lives, fortunes and sacred honor on the line for freedom and popular sovereignty, as so many are now in Iran. Every speechwriter for President Reagan has at one time or another received thanks from former Soviet or Soviet-satellite dissidents for the speeches that assured them that they were not alone and not unheard, during the years of oppression that preceded the fall of the Soviet state. As things stand today, Mr. Obama’s speechwriters — and Mr. Obama himself — are unlikely to ever receive such thanks from those now risking their lives in the streets of Tehran.
Mr. Obama knows how to communicate — and as a former community organizer he knows how much courage it takes for ordinary people, even in as benign a jurisdiction as Chicago, to stand up to authorities. Even if there is little in the way of material aide we can offer, it is time he used his words to say that the United States stands, as at its best it has always stood, with those who seek freedom and democracy in their own land. It is time Mr. Obama showed a little strength.
