RedState's Morning Briefing for Wednesday, June 24, 2009

1. An Uncertain Trumpet: Obama Plays to Lose In Iran

the administration licks an ice cream cone while Tehran burns

2. The many and varied positions, declarations, and affirmations of Barack Obama relating to Iran.

As presented by the White House.

3. Obama administration say one thing do another

auto industry edition

4. Will Bob Byrd Ever Come Back to the Senate?

A delicate subject that complicates Barack Obama’s agenda

5. The Lessons of Mark Sanford’s Hike

Government does not collapse

1. An Uncertain Trumpet: Obama Plays to Lose In Iran

the administration licks an ice cream cone while Tehran burns

Much of the world has been mesmerized by the situation in Iran following the election on June 12 and Ahmadinejad’s questionable victory over Mir-Houssein Mousavi.

As the protests have increased in number and intensity and the official violence directed at them has surged, much of the American public as well as the press has rallied to the cause of the protesters. The US government has also jumped on the bandwagon. An obligatory resolution supporting the protesters passed the House 405-1. Obama had ice cream. It short, the attention of the government has been riveted on what is going on in the streets of Tehran.

But does the outcome of this really matter to us? Or does it matter in the way a lot of folks think it matters?

What we’re getting wrong.

The narrative being constructed in the media portrays the Iranian protests as the spiritual descendant of the Solidarity protests in Poland in the 1980s, People Power in the Philippines (1986), the Velvet Revolution in former Czechoslovakia (1989), Georgia’s Rose Revolution (2003) and Ukraine’s Orange Revolution (2004-05) in which widespread discontent at repressive regimes led to their overthrow. They aren’t.

While there is no doubt that there are some number of protesters who wish a more liberalized political structure in Iran and an Iran more closely integrated with the rest of the world, there is no evidence that they are present in these demonstrations in large numbers.

Simply put, Ahmadinejad represents one faction of Iran’s ruling elite. Mousavi represents another. The demonstrations are a falling out amongst thieves over the future path of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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2. The many and varied positions, declarations, and affirmations of Barack Obama relating to Iran.

As presented by the White House.

After weeks of criticism from both Republicans and Democrats that Barack Obama had taken many varied positions on Iran, the White House sought to admit the criticism was true.

From the actual White House website with no alterations whatsoever:

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3. Obama administration say one thing do another

auto industry edition

We’ve heard it before. Last month, as the Federal Government was becoming an 8 percent owner of Chrysler and 50 percent owner of General Motors, President Obama feigned disinterest:

I don’t want to run auto companies. I’m not an auto engineer. I don’t know how to create an affordable, well-designed plug-in hybrid.

Moments later, Obama revealed his actual intent:

“But I know that, if the Japanese can design an affordable, well-designed hybrid, then, doggone it, the American people should be able to do the same,” he said. “So my job is to ask the auto industry: Why is it you guys can’t do this?”

So we shouldn’t be surprised when President Obama’s Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, goes to Iowa and says:

All cars made in America should be able to burn ethanol (E85).

Chu made the E85 statement yesterday, even though he has previously admitted that, corn is not the right crop for biofuels.”

Earlier this month, Secretary Chu said electric vehicles were “inevitable.”

Chu’s promotion of E85 capability seems to be driven by the low cost of making a standard internal combustion engine vehicle able to burn the biofuel.

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4. Will Bob Byrd Ever Come Back to the Senate?

A delicate subject that complicates Barack Obama’s agenda

I’m trying to be delicate. The man is 91 years old, and he has been hospitalized since May 15. According to Roll Call, he has now handed off his primary legislative responsibility.

The thing is, there’s no reason the Homeland Security Appropriations bill has to go through the Senate this week. If Harry Reid expected Byrd to be able to manage the bill anytime soon, he could defer consideration for several weeks. Perhaps Reid does expect him back in the Senate, but wants to protect his pride. Maybe Murray is taking the lead on the bill now to avoid the embarrassment of doing so when he is actually ‘healthy enough’ to return to the Senate.

Byrd has now had several lengthy hospital stays in the last few years. This time his staff won’t even disclose his current location; one wonders why they’re going to such lengths to hide the Senator.

It is now nearly 2 months since the last vote for which both Bob Byrd and Ted Kennedy were present. Assuming Al Franken is someday seated in the Senate, it is going to be extremely difficult for Harry Reid to muster 60 Democrat votes for any initiative - at least as long as Byrd and Kennedy are still alive and serving.

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5. The Lessons of Mark Sanford’s Hike

Government does not collapse

First, we need to be clear on the facts — not the media speculation:

• Sanford did tell his staff and family where he was going.
• Because he was traveling without a security detail, it was in his best interests that no one knew he was gone.
• His political enemies — Republicans at that — ginned up the media story.
• When confronted by a pestering media, things went downhill.
• Again though, at all times there was no doubt that Sanford’s staff and family knew where he was.

Now, here is all you need to know about this whole entire story — the reaction from the erstwhile Republicans angry at Sanford for not being a fiscal squish and from the media all go back to their core belief that without Sanford manning the barricades of government at all times, the government will collapse and people will starve, die, and forget how to read and write.

That’s it.

But that did not happen. Life in South Carolina went on. The world did not end. Government did not go off the rails. That the media and politicians would react as they did says more about their world view than anything else.

It is refreshing that Mark Sanford is secure enough in himself and the people of South Carolina that he does not view himself as an indispensable man.