Re: “Political Coup in Iran?”

On Friday, President Obama commented on the Iranian election :

We are excited to see what appears to be a robust debate taking place in Iran. Whoever ends up winning the election in Iran, the fact there has been a robust debate hopefully will advance our ability to engage them in new ways.

Powerline aptly describes his remarks as “criminally useful idiocy.” :

Obama should not have lauded the election, much less characterized it as advancing our ability to engage Iran in new ways, until he was satisfied that the election was honest. A fraudulent election in which the existing, intransigent regime claims a landslide victory will not advance our ability to engage in Iran in new ways.

A senior official of the Obama Administration remarked: “The administration will deal with the situation we have, not what we wish it to be” — prompting Weekly Standard ‘s Stephen Hayes to note the inconsistency between Obama’s tepid response and his Cairo speech .

On Meet the Press today, Vice President Biden expressed his doubts about the legitimacy of the election , but concluded “we have to accept for the time being” Ahmadinejad’s claim of victory.