AJ Stata on the revelations of a Iranian nuclear facility and Obama’s reacion: Obama All Hat, No Cattle

Our loquacious young president came out on TV and gave the Iranians a serious tongue lashing in bureaucratese. Which means he said a lot of nothing. No sanctions, no actions, no proposals. Just a lot of lofty rhetoric and pleading.

Pathetic. This is when you need a daring cowboy – those community organizers just wilt at times like these.

Now, here’s the fundamental problem with Stata’s critique: to come to the microphone and spout threats and demands that one cannot back up is the very definition of “all hat, no cattle.” If one cannot back up one’s threats, then it is best not to make them. Tough rhetoric does not translate into reality just because one wants it to be so. The Bush administration tried some fairly harsh rhetoric with the Iranians and, oddly enough, it didn’t work. Indeed, a lesson that should have been learned from the Bush administration, but remains unabsorbed by some, is that while some of us may like to hear harsh and direct rhetoric, it tends to a) not produce the desired outcome and/or b) results in belligerent action that we come to regret.

It is true, by the way, that Obama’s appeal to international law and such will likely have little effect on the Iranian nuclear program, but not because he is a wilting community organizer, but because of the exigencies of the international system that are outside of the control of the President of the United States, regardless of who he is, what party he is from and what type of rhetoric he spouts.

2 Responses to “I Don’t Think That Means What You Think it Means”

1. B. Minich Says:
   September 25th, 2024 at 12:45 pm

   Indeed . . . this being revealed the way it has been may actually be a boon for getting the cooperation from Russia and China that will make this stick. At least, it’s a change from before, which did not work at all!

   Basically, by castigating Iran on such a public stage, Obama is signaling to the world that this is bad, and this will hopefully pressure the Chinese and the Russians.

2. PoliBlog: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts » The Emptiness of Tough Talk Says:
   September 26th, 2024 at 7:38 pm

   [...] = ‘The+Emptiness+of+Tough+Talk’; addthis_pub = ”; Sphere: Related ContentFor example,  see my post from yesterday, Stephen Hayes, and/or Michael Goldfarb, both of the Weekly Standard. [↩] [...]