Conservative contradictions: The right-wing assault on Obama over Iran

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The other day, TNR's Michael Crowley effectively captured the contradiction at the core of the conservative assault on Obama over Iran:

So Now Obama Really Is Moses?

For more than a year conservatives have ridiculed the alleged belief that Obama's special rhetorical powers can do anything, including parting the waters. Now they're all clamoring for him to change he course of Iranian history by leveraging what Paul Wolfowitz calls "his enormous political prestige." In other words, by giving a fancy speech.

Similarly, Christopher Orr noted that conservative Andrew McCarthy situates Obama at both extremes of the spectrum -- "fanatical ideologue" and "bloodless pragmatist" -- according to whatever suits his present assault. (Obama is either A or B. In either case, he's wrong. It's a way of attacking Obama no matter what.)

In general, it's not just that these anti-Obama conservatives have no real arguments, it's that their full of shit. As Orr noted elsewhere, for example, leading assaulter Charles Krauthammer has slammed Obama, both on Fox and in the WaPo, for referring to Khamenei as Iran's "supreme leader." Just days before, though, Krauthammer himself referred to Khamenei as "the supreme leader."

The point is, it doesn't matter what Obama does. For these conservatives -- Krauthammer, McCarthy, Kagan, Bennett, Wolfowitz, etc., as well as Republicans like McCain and Graham -- Obama can do no right. He could launch an all-out military attack on Iran, of the sort the neocons have been pushing for, and they'd still find fault with him for something, and they'd still assault him with all the ideological and partisan fervor they could muster.

It's what they do. It's who they are.

And Obama should just ignore them.